I guess I'll stick with Cyclops (scott summers) for now.

Has anyone tried building an x-men rush deck toping the curve at 5, and taking advantage of professor x mansion?

the mansion huh?

it needs a decent amounth of charachters on the baord to be effective, something that an x-bird build can do. and it would give that arch-type some discard capabilites to withstand the later turns. sounds promising, but i just never really liked that card, way to inconsistant for me.

now the shcool is fun to play with when you add team tactics to the mix.

That's what I'm thinking...blackbird an lots of weenies mostly 1 & 2 recruit cost characters...plus wolvie and 3 drop shadowcat or havok....with bamf, cota, home surgery, you should be abl to keep enough guys unstunned. Throw in fastball specials for good measure...seige perilous should be nice too...

I may have to give it a try.

I've never tried the school or team tactics. How do you like it?I did have a doom deck a while back that won fairly consistantly (on turn 5, ini permitting) with doombots and team tactics. That was a fun deck.

if you go weenie rush, then power nexus will be very good when you don't have the initiative, simply take out their highest drop and use a shcool to finishing move is you have to.

as for team tactics/XSGY combo, it has some merit, but like all comboes it requires getting the right draw, thankfully, team tactics can help in weenie builds that need to team attack to stun, but still wish to do BEL. so even without XSGY, team tactics can be useful all game.

Yeah... I forgot about power nexus. That shuold earn a spot too. I think I know what i'll playtest tonight. :)

With regard to the Jean Grey lock. I've utilized Howlett's ability as a stall tactic to get me to turn 8 where I use Jean Grey to clear the board into turn 9 when I drop Onslaught. The main problem of course is making sure you have the cards in hand to do the job. I use Cerebro to cycle through characters in the deck and I put Reconstruction Program and Avalon Space Station in to allow you to get back what you need from the KO pile. The Reconstruction Program along with Avalon is very key.

Cerebro guarantees that you can have 5 characters in the KO pile by the time Colossus comes out. You also need to get a Jean Grey in the KO pile so that you can drop Phoenix force on turn 8. With four of each Jean Grey (just to be safe) it works out.

Then of course you have Howlett at the 5 drop. He is your target 5 drop and with Combat Reflexes and Burn Rubber maxed out in the deck you should be able to stall through whatever they throw at you. Just keep moving him back to the front. Combat Reflexes can also double as a +3 power up on the attack, but I try to save them for Howlett.

Once you get to turn 6 and big Colossus comes out you are pretty much golden unless you got worked over on the early turns. Take odd inits whenever possible and when you drop Wolverine 7 they will still be thinking you plan to win with him. You don't need the init on turn 8 because as soon as you drop Phoenix Force you use her power. Then go right to turn 9 when you drop Onslaught. If you don't have the init on turn 9 then drop Phoenix Force again and use her ability and go to turn 10 when you drop Onslaught.

The deck plays like a beats x-men deck initially. You drop the largest drops that you can to keep them from doing damage to you, but at turn 5 when Howlett comes out you start to stay more on defense.

I've played a few people online and in person with the deck and it wins a fair amount. In fact it is the only X-Men deck I win with consistently. There really isn't much that can stop it when it gets to turn 8. Unless they have someone out and ready with a Utility Belt or play Fun and Games there isn't a way to negate Phoenix Force's effect. If they play GK and Fizzle at the right time it can be problematic, but you will usually have backup options in those cases. Reconstruction Program and Avalon complement each other and Combat Reflexes and Burn Rubber are there in sufficient quantity to overwhelm their Fizzles.

It works especially well against Teen Titans because their focus is usually stunning your characters with Teen Titans Go team attacks and Wolverine 5 drop negates that completely. He also negates Roy Harper as well since Howlett's ability works at any time.

You'll need to watch out for decks that fly over Howlett to get at more vulnerable characters which is why I usually keep what is out on the field to a bare minimum. By turn 6 usually Howlett and Colossus are the only ones on the field and it's okay to have Colossus get stunned as he stuns back (if he doesn't, you are in trouble, how did you let someone get out there with more than 16 DEF?).

I'll let you guys have a look at it. This isn't the exact build I have been playing (had to conjur from memory, its at home), but it is pretty close. Really the only time this deck loses is if you don't draw into Howlett.

Characters:
3 MOR-004 Bishop-Lucas Bishop
3 MOR-018 Nightcrawler-Kurt Wagner
2 MSM-106 Shadowcat-Pride of the X-Men
4 MOR-029 Wolverine-Logan
4 MOR-013 Jean Grey-Marvel Girl
3 MSM-105 John Proudstar . Thunderbird-Apache Warrior
1 MOR-019 Professor X-Charles Xavier
4 MOR-028 Wolverine-James Howlett
4 MOR-005 Colossus-Peter Rasputin
2 MOR-027 Wolverine-Berserker Rage
4 MOR-014 Jean Grey-Phoenix Force
2 MOR-169 Onslaught-Psionic Spawn of Xavier and Magneto
Plot Twists:
4 MOR-180 Burn Rubber
4 MOR-152 Reconstruction Program
4 DOR-145 Combat Reflexes
4 MOR-031 Children of the Atom
Locations:
4 MOR-030 Cerebro
4 MOR-098 Avalon Space Station

if you are worried about flyers, maybe you should try storm. she is not in my build, but i am not trying to make it to turn 8.

Here is the actual build that I've been playing at home. I guess I oriented it toward the top end a lot more than the one above and I have Storm in there quite a bit. Definitely less emphasis on the two drops.

Characters:
4 MOR-004 Bishop-Lucas Bishop
2 MSM-106 Shadowcat-Pride of the X-Men
4 MOR-029 Wolverine-Logan
3 MOR-025 Storm-Ororo Munroe
4 MOR-013 Jean Grey-Marvel Girl
4 MOR-028 Wolverine-James Howlett
3 MOR-026 Storm-Weather Witch
3 MOR-005 Colossus-Peter Rasputin
4 MOR-027 Wolverine-Berserker Rage
4 MOR-014 Jean Grey-Phoenix Force
2 MOR-169 Onslaught-Psionic Spawn of Xavier and Magneto
Plot Twists:
4 MOR-180 Burn Rubber
4 MOR-152 Reconstruction Program
4 DOR-145 Combat Reflexes
3 MOR-031 Children of the Atom
Locations:
4 MOR-030 Cerebro
4 MOR-098 Avalon Space Station

good to see the great turn out of x-men fans.

this Pheonix deck looks really solid.
what are the thoughts on running james instead of the 4drop storm...less character replacment is always good.

one the X's school/ team tactics situation. i love this combo, and i think it out shine alot of other combos cause the two cards can still surve purpose when you play them seperatly or if you dont get a good draw while playing. both cards are very usfull and togather they are awsome, specially with wolverine or havok....

I'm going to try running Proudstar instead of Storm and see how it works out. Right now all my experience is with the second deck. I think with that one I will try removing one of the six drop storms in favor of another Colossus.

In all replacement isn't that big a factor in the Phoenix deck and in fact can work in your favor as there are no weak links that they can hit to get by Howlett. In fact I've used Shadowcat 3 drop in the early turns and returned her to my hand later in the game just so I would not have to defend her or evade her.

ill spend the next few day trying to collect the rares on your list...the james' the pheonix and the onslaughts mostly....then ill try this deck out...it looks good and has a real strong chance in my metagame right now....
thanks man

Lieter

for those running james howlet another card to abuse is Fight to the Finish.

Card Text:
Choose an attacker an opponent controls and a defender you control. Whenever the chosen attacker stuns the chosen defender this attack, KO that defender. Whenever the chosen defender stuns the chosen attacker this attack, KO that attacker.

this card can be played anytime wolvierine is attacked. as lond as you are able to discard an x-men to prevent stunning he will be imune to the ko effect since he will never stunn to trigger it.

just a thought

well since Webdev posted his Phoenix Force build
i think i'll post my Mutant Nation version

4x Puppet Master
3x Unus
4x Wolverine (1 Promo, looks wicked awesome ;) )
1x Quicksilver, Pietor Maximoff
4x Rouge, Power Absorption
3x Jean Grey, Marvel Girl
3x Sunfire
1x Scarlet Witch
4x Mimic
2x Professor X, WMPT
3x Jean Grey, Phoenix Force
1x Magneto, Lord Magnus
3x Onslaught

3x Cerebro
3x Avalon Space Station

4x Marvel Team-Up (i've never pulled a Mutant Nation..)
4x Rise to Power
3x Entangle
3x Shape Change
2x Worlds Finest
2x Have a Blast

it is a LOT different compared to Webdev's deck
my deck is basically all stall and field control
there isn't much offense at all
basically stall til turn 8, then win :)
either w/ a 9th turn Onslaught
or an 8th turn Magneto
also the mulligan condition is a lot like Vomit builds
if you don't have Puppet Master, you generally mulligan
he starts the whole stall going right from the beginning
and two of my stall characters completely rely on him
so drawing him by turn 2 is very important
its not impossible to win w/o him
but it is harder

Rouge and Mimic also give me many options
Puppet Master, Unus, Quicksilver, Sunfire, Prof X, Phoenix Force
both can take whichever effect is most important for that specific situation

and its match-ups are pretty solid
Big Brotherhood is usually pretty easy
especially now w/ the 1GM they wont know how to beat you

TNB can be hard if they get a nuts draw
but w/ all the exhaustion and then the Sunfire's
as long as you can stay above 25 by turn 5
i'd say you have a very good chance of winning

Sentinels are tricky, really hard to beat them
but Sunfire will help you in that match-up

Teen Titans: Arsenal is very annoying
but this deck actually isnt that hard to beat
just keep them from team attacking to much

Doom: Reign of Terror and Flametrap hurt PM
so you might consider replaying him for Rogue and Mimic
but other than that this match-up is in your favor

F4: i really hate this deck...
PFF is just an evil card
the good thing is my MN build relies less on Entangle
so it isnt' as big a problem but Surfer and TELBET are pretty evil

Common Enemy: basically harder than Doom
and i'd say a little harder than F4
but the absence of Ka-Booms is nice

Ka-Booms always hurt
having to stall an extra turn is never good
but luckily HAB and 4 Drop Jean Grey can stop Ka-boom
and even if they Kaboom
you should be able to stall an extra turn anyway

this is also a good strong deck, and it even has alil mindwipe (discard) potential, which i personally am a fan of.

only weekness in th team up cards, and taking 6 slots in your deck...but i would like to see this deck in action....

by the way....GO RED SOX!

It's an interesting idea, except that Howlett is somewhat weak in the ATK department.