Mystique: Shape-Changing Assassin



My girl Mystique is one bad momma. We’ve already had a ‘weaker’ version of Mystique revealed to us in the rulebook (Raven Darkholme) who had the option of raising her breakthrough level – and quite substantially for a character with lower stats.

So now we have a new Mystique, with MUCH higher stats, who also has an effect based on breakthrough. Mystique: Shape-Changing Assassin allows you, when you cause breakthrough endurance loss, to look at your opponent’s hand and choose and discard a card.



So let’s examine this card a little more closely. This Mystique is a late-game character. Cost six means that you’ll likely have her right in between your two Magnetos. Her 12/12 stats are up there with the best of the Cost 6 characters, as well. So, assuming you have that 5 cost Magneto on the table, you’ve just started your attack phase and exhausted an opponent’s character of cost 4 or less, and now you have a 9/9 and a 12/12 to attack with. Pop a Dual Sidearms on Mystique and she’s 14/12 with Ranged Combat, which potentially gives her a little protection. With a location and/or a plot twist in your favour, you SHOULD be able to deal some breakthrough damage to your opponent.



So Mystique breaks through - what’s the big deal? As previously mentioned, she can now discard a card of your choice from your opponent’s hand. The fact that you can CHOOSE this card, means that you can now potentially force your opponent to quickly shift his/her strategy. That Onslaught s/he was holding? Buh-Bye! That Genosha was going to give him/her a chance at some extra cards next turn? Not any more. The Savage Beatdown that was going to boost their Colossus to 21ATK? Too bad!! That Cosmic Radiation would have been a nice post-attack bonus- now it has to be used right away or never.

This Mystique has enough staying power to force your opponent to take her out first – and if you have initiative she’s nearly guaranteed to do some damage to your opponent’s strategy. As well, she’s a great addition to a stall deck – her discard power can help to hold you steady until the Master of Magnetism comes out the turn after – not to mention the Onslaught you have simmering in the background… She’ll also make a good addition to a discard deck – even if it’s not a Brotherhood deck. Discard decks will likely center on lower cost characters, and will be able to make good use of those 12/12 stats. In any case, she’s a common, so it shouldn’t be a problem to get enough Mystique-ification to serve your every need!

she is indeed a great card. the only thing htat baffles me, is how is she more powerful than colossus? unless the 11/12 represents him before he is all metallized...

either way, you get to look at their hand and you get to make them lose a card. a win/win situation. i've always been a little partial to cards that make your opponent lose cards.

yeah, burning an opponents cards is always a good thing

since the attack and defense number are very simplified (as opposed to something like overpower which had stats in strength, energy, fighting, and intellect), they must represent the characters abilities no matter what the abilities stem from. for example, the thing may have a 15 def, but so might spider-man. how? because the thing is so tough he has an effective 15 def, and because spider-man is so agile he has an effective 15 def. their ability to defend stems from different attributes, but must be represented by a single number since that is all that is allowed for the defense value.

... you sound like a real magazine writer! (lol)

Too bad the sexy possiblities you mention are not realistic. A game getting to Onslaught will be rare, I fear.

Nice article... Brotherhood is looking like it will be very fun to play! :) Which is good b/c I'd rather play pure evil at first and then go to splashing Magneto into other decks ;)

Thanks for the kind comments!

I tend to agree with Torch - her stats are not about her strength level, but her overall ability. Being able to sneak up and stab someone in the back, or disguise yourself as a friend in order to make a sneak attack, results in doing as much damage as being able to hit someone dead on with a ton of force. Remember it's her ATTACK and DEFENCE, not her strength and toughness =)

Mystique: Erotic Assassin? Never mind, I've been watching to much Futurama.

Kergillian's right. Unlike Heroclix, stats in this game represent usefulness, not power. A normal human could be a real high pointer if he's really resourceful, and an entity of incredible power could be a real low pointer if he's an incompetent moron.

Hey, Kergillain, have you read my Fantastic Four gripe yet? I'm beginning to feel self-conscious since no one's talking about it.

Unless you are playing in the states, where it is attack and defense.

Bizzaro#98: what FF gripe??

Braden: I'm sure I have NO idea what you're talking about =)

I knew I should have put it in a different thread.

Well, it is now. Check it out.

Mystique should see a lot more play post 07/01/05.

-malber

HOLY THREAD NECRO, BATMAN!

*WOW* but it's been awhile...

-grin- WarWolf has that right - glad malber dug this one up from the catacombs =)

damn i love seeing old threads, espicially the ones where we gushed over cards, and then they never seen the light of day.

There was an early article on metagame.com where Dave Humphrey's said this was his favorite character card.

-malber