Ever walk into your friend's basement and marvel at the line of colossal figures displayed across their bookshelf- collecting dust? Or look at the amazing sculpt on Master Mold but think, "How would I even begin to build a strategy around this?" Do you long for a Galactus, but find yourself held back by that nagging suspicion that you will never actually use him? Does the thought of 'a colossal in every booster' have you dreading Avengers: Infinity?

You need to get with the times! Modern colossals are valid options when team building, with balanced and interesting dials, team-friendly point values, and long dials that defy today's trends. Just come inside and see what I mean.

The Big Prize
For years now, colossal figures have acted as grand prizes for local 'event' tournaments. But the trend is actually rather recent, having only become a fixture around the Infinity Gauntlet era. Colossals make an ideal trophy for big events, as they're highly visible in a store and look as valuable as they are (unlike the recent WKO prizes, for example, which require insider knowledge to know they're desirability). It also makes for a convenient distribution model for these oversized figures, who would take up too much shelf space and carry too high a price tag for many stores to realistically stock.

The first colossal prizes coincided with the 5 year anniversary of HeroClix, and simultaneously the introduction of character cards, special powers, and keywords. It was an entire game overhaul with a light touch, and they wanted to draw attention to it. What better way than a summer tournament series for Galactus himself? Repainted and re-balanced (only slightly), the shiny new Devourer of Worlds arrived to great fanfare- the original was still one of the hardest HeroClix figures to obtain, and he was extremely competitive when builds allowed for his appearance.

Not to be left out, DC followed up the Galactus event with a Starro invasion. While the 4 starfish-controlled Justice Leaguers paled in comparison to the 4 Heralds of Galactus, Starro himself made quite a splash as an unkillable opponent. As this was the cosmic starfish's first (and, to date, only) appearance, his popularity eclipsed Galactus', leading WizKids to eventually release him for retail as well. As Starro was much smaller than Galactus on a 2x2 base, it was much more reasonable for stores to stock him.

Colossals were few and far between until the Infinity Gauntlet brought back event tournaments with a vengeance. Resources drove the return, with relic collection becoming a dominant incentive for monthly attendance. The grand prize? A Thanos worthy of the storyline's mythos.

And once again, DC followed suit with No Man's Land and an oversized resource, the Batcave.

Then we had Fear Itself and the Serpent.

Then DC upped the ante with an event much bigger and content much more expansive. The War of Light tournament series offered a unique booster set, nearly a dozen resources, and a colossal Nekron.

Then AvX had unique starter sets and a colossal Dark Phoenix Cyclops.

It was at this point that the event series format fell out of favor and became less ambitious, but colossals have remained a part of WizKids' prizing system, now showing up from time to time in standard monthly Organized Play kits. Dormammu and Titano have shown up recently; we're slated to see more later this year.

Today we'll check out one of these grand prize colossals as Kind of a Big Deal goes Golden Age.

Big Man on Campus
The Dark Phoenix drives Cyclops' point cost through the roof, resulting in 1000, 750, and 300 point options. Dark Phoenix Cyclops was designed just before modern colossal sensibilities were fully realized, so he relies on high stats and overbearing power combinations to succeed as a one-man team. Aside from extremely high point games, Cyclops is not team friendly, requiring too many points to include much in the way of assistance.


If it's not immediately apparent to you, that's an astronomically high point-per-click. That's not unusual for older colossal dial design, and usually the stats and powers justify it- but penetrating damage turns a colossal like this into a massive point sink.

Cyclops makes up for this by disabling entire teams with his opening strike. At 300, his 2-damage Pulse Wave is an effective way to trim the enemy's efficiency. Higher point levels use Hypersonic Speed to strike first, strike fast, and retreat to relative safety afterwards. Precision Strike used to be a major feature for DP Scott, but the new rules have cut its compatibility with multiple targets, another feature of this dial.

The strongest ability on this dial is his Multi-Attack trait, which isn't accessible to his 300 dial. With that, Cyclops can really keep up with a full team of enemies. Don't forget to clear a token after every KO; while Colossal Stamina is an option, with so many points invested in each click, it needs to be used sparingly.

Cyclops has a stop click that guarantees he'll live to see another turn, and Regeneration to get multiple uses out of it. Note how the rules of the STOP effect now impair Regeneration rolls.

Standing Out In the Crowd
There aren't many 1000 point figures to compare Cyclops to, and the odds that you'd be hemming and hawing between Dark Phoenix Cyclops and Shuma Gorath are pretty slim (you'll have been drawn to one of them from the get-go, or you won't own both anyway). Cyclops is also the only 750 point figure in the game (but then, you're likely thinking of using him in an 800+ game anyway). The best level to compare him at, then, is 300- and really, that's the level that's most questionable.

The most interesting comparison is actually against his more restrained counterpart: the chase Phoenix 5 Cyclops. At 295, they're nearly interchangeable, and both fit the narrow Phoenix Force theme (where DP Cyke is likely to look the most appealing). In fact, P5 Scott matches all of PF Scott's keywords, making him a constant contender. Let's turn to a Venn Diagram to compare!
The quick summary here is that Phoenix 5 Cyclops is much more of a team player, but would like to face a single main threat. Dark Phoenix Cyclops is a force unto himself, and prefers to handle multiple opponents. Colossal Size must also be seen as an advantage to DP Cyke, because in most other regards P5 has the advantage. P5's stats are, on average, higher than DP's, right down to an additional click of life. There's no doubt that, if these two went up against each other, the chase would walk out the winner.

In fact, that's an unfortunate truth across the board for a 300 point Dark Phoenix Cyclops. There are just better options for one-man armies. Most colossals use a deep dial to gain an advantage over the competition, but with only 9 clicks Cyclops doesn't offer that. Most colossals have stats above their paygrade, but Cyclops' are pretty much in line with any figure over 200.

It feels pretty clear to me that Dark Phoenix Cyclops was given a 300 point line just so he could see play in standard tournaments. It is not a ferociously competitive dial, and it doesn't make a case for itself via unique abilities. If DP Cyclops is going to see play, it's going to be at a higher point limit, where his Multiattack stands out against more recent colossals and his special Pulse Wave can actually do more than 2 damage.

Large and In Charge

Cosmic teams are generally tentpole teams, or at best a two-man team-up. To make a theme with this keyword, Dark Phoenix Cyclops would need a very high point limit. That's going to be true of any of his keywords, but here Cyclops doesn't find any synergy. Cosmic teams will largely disregard him, and if you're going to build around Cyclops, you're probably going to bark up a different tree for allies.

On the other hand, Phoenix Force teams have loads of synergy with the big bad Scott. Primarily this is found in the 150 point versions of Phoenix Five chases, who all boost each other upon death and can make a stats monster out of Dark Phoenix. DP Cyclops plus the 4 remaining members make a nice 900 point force that can really hurt you; alternatively, 750 point Cyclops with 150 point Emma Frost is a scary duo. And then there are the other folks with the Phoenix Force keyword: various versions of Jean, the Cuckoos, and most notably, Hope Summers.
The X-Men tend to be team players, so having a massive tentpole available to them is a novelty that, in and of itself, should be appealing. They also have plenty of low-cost, supportive options to add numbers to your force. Cyclops can do a lot of healing at others' expense on an X-Men team. You can also gain all the synergy of the Phoenix Force keyword with an expanded roster.


The Big Game
While not strictly legal, I would love to sideline DP Cyclops as an ID call-in during a home game, requiring the use of Pulse Wave on arrival. You might go as far as to leave the Dark Phoenix on the table afterwards as a non-playable threat that attacks both teams- the X-Men unleashed the Phoenix Force under dire circumstances, and now enemies must work together to contain it!

Dark Phoenix Cyclops also makes a nice opponent for solitaire games, as the best move for him at any given moment should be fairly obvious. Build a 1000 point team and try to take it down!
That concludes our look at Dark Phoenix Cyclops! Share your stories of playing him, playing against him, or even winning him in the comments below!

Having played against this piece with Automatic Regeneration attached, I can safely say that said combo is almost unstoppable. It's not a new-style STOP click, so it doesn't cut into the Regeneration amount, so, barring a finalizing Pulse Wave or a poor Regeneration roll while using Colossal Stamina (which would just put Cyclops back on his final click), most teams will not be able to finish off this Colossal piece under those circumstances.

Automatic Regeneration is bad for the game. A thousand times moreso with new, failproof Regeneration.

I fully encourage the banning of Feats when considered in light of new special powers and new rules.

I just played this piece (for the first time) tonight. It was a huge 1800 point tournament and I paired him with 800 point Retail Manhattan.

It was...cruel.

I wasn't skilled/lucky enough to win the big guy, but I've had to play against him many times: IIRC only once was that a game of 300 points, I've face it in 400+ games several (three?) times. Facing the 300-point dial with support pieces (and a decent chance to lose map choice) is really no fun. These games were in an era of different rules for Energy Explosion; the 2017 PAC reigns him in a little bit.

The WXM chase is the only one Phoenix Five figures I haven't used. I had the misfortune of having to face it in a sealed event... also not fun. The 2017 PAC changes make me think the full 295-point dial is somewhat improved (new Invincible!), but this is still the P5 member that gets left off the 4-figure 600-point squad as I don't think it offers as much synergy as the other 4. The 150-point dial of the chase is IMO dangerous, since even with his superior range, it will be possible for him to get hit deep into his dial before he can really do anything else.

Really solid breakdown of the piece. Good article.