Release day is nigh for the latest HeroClix 5-figure booster retail release from WizKids, X-Men: X of Swords. Long-time forum member Hesster56 is here to share HOT TAKES on the the Super Rare figure from the set.

#045 Captain Britain
Real Name: Elizabeth Braddock
Team: X-Men
Range: 3
Points: 80/40
Keywords: Excalibur, X-Men, Mystical

10 11 18 3

10 11 18 3

10 11 18 3

10 11 17 3

l l l l l l

8 11 17 2

7 10 18 2

7 10 18 2

6 10 18 2

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

Sword Bearer +5: This character starts the game with any sword equipment equipped.
Excalibur, Mystical Protectors: (Mystic TA), but only triggers during range attacks. Captain Britain has SAFEGUARD: Mystics TA
For Queen and Country: Willpower, but succeeds on a 4-6. When Captain Britain uses it and succeeds, you may also remove an action token from a friendly character within range.

#s005 STARLIGHT SWORD (Light Object)
Indestructible
Equip: Any
Unequip: Drop
Effect: Blades/Claws/Fangs. When this character uses it, after resolutions you may place the hit target up to a number of squares away from their current square equal to the d6 result.
Point Value: 10

I liked Betsy better when she was a ninja. There, I said it. Probably just because that’s when I had started reading comics. I remember getting back issues of the Outback Era and being real confused that she wasn’t an Asian woman in a bathing suit but an English woman in puffy sleeves. That out of the way, if you haven’t picked up the HoX version, it’s about to drop in price. I think. Brexit Betts sports an extra click, a ton of Precision Strike, and some Outwit over Exploit. Other than that, she plays pretty darn similar. The defensive backswing is nice, but I’m just not loving this version.

#046 Bei the Blood Moon
Real Name: Bei
Team: No Affiliation
Range: 0
Points: 75/40
Keywords: Arakko, X-Men, Warrior

8 12 18 3

8 11 18 3

8 11 18 2

l l l l l l

8 10 17 2

8 11 17 2

8 11 17 3

8 10 17 3

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

Sword Bearer +5: This character starts the game with any Sword equipment equipped.
Doom Note: Giant Reach: 2. Quake, but deals 3 damage instead of 2.

#s006 SEDUCER(Light Object)
Indestructible
Equip: Any
Unequip: Drop
Effect: Blades/Claws/Fangs. When this character uses it, after resolutions this character may use Mind Control as FREE but only to target a hit character.
Point Value: 10

Look, a sword-bearer with Hypersonic instead of Charge! And a buffed out Quake special! Bei’s cool, but I’d love to see her show up with some of her relationship to Doug explained. If you haven’t read the story yet, I don’t want to spoil it, but seeing Doug Ramsey train to square up against one of the most dangerous people on Arakko is a killer arc.

#047a Unique Nimrod the Lesser
Real Name: Nimrod
Team: No Affiliation
Range: 6
Points: 100
Keywords: Sentinel, Robot, Ruler

10 11 18 4

10 11 18 4

10 11 18 4

10 11 18 4

10 10 17 3

10 10 17 3

10 10 17 3

10 10 17 3

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

RALLY (Friendly attack rolls 1): FREE: Remove one of Nimrod the Lesser's RALLY dice to generate up to two Nimrod bystanders [MAX 2].
UPLOAD HUMANITY TO THE PHALANX: POWER: Remove any number of RALLY dice from friendly characters. For every two dice removed this way, gain 1 MISSION POINT.

Nimrod
Team: No Affiliation
Range: 6
Points: 0

6 9 17 1

RALLY (Opposing attack rolls 6): [This trait gains RALLY dice for Nimrod the Lesser to score when activating his Upload Humanity to the Phalanx trait, but otherwise has no effect.]

The Nimrod bystander has the Autonomous symbol.

I feel like there’s a missed opportunity here, but we’d have to go back to House of X to make the change that would make this robot truly, truly evil. Go read Inferno. GO DO IT. It’s good. Maybe in her next life she’ll be able to help (look at me being canny). Nimrod needs your rolls to suck, but he only needs it to happen every once in a while. And don’t forget Dr. Gregor to buff his autonomous drones. He needs the Orchis keyword to really be perfect, but overall, I’m gonna be very happy to add this to my Robot teams.

#047b Prime Nimrod
Team: Cosmic Energy
Range: 6
Points: 125/35
Keywords: Sentinel, Future, Robot

10 12 19 4

10 11 18 4

10 11 18 4

10 11 18 4

10 11 18 3

l l l l l l

8 10 17 3

8 10 17 3

8 10 17 3

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

⦿: Destroys Blocking, Characters
Recruiter: POWER: Choose a character with the Sentinel keyword in your KO area that hasn't been chosen for this effect and wasn't generated by a Recruiter effect. If you do, generate a character with the Sentinel keyword from your Sideline that has a lower point value than the chosen character. This game, the generated character can't be replaced and your opponent scores them immediately instead of when they're KO'd.
Disintegration Beam: Pulse Wave. When Nimrod uses it, you may instead only target characters within range along a single direct line of fire. If you do, hit characters are dealt 2 damage instead of 1. If only one character was targeted, and it was an opposing character, he deals his printed damage value instead.
Become Whole Again: STOP. Invincible, Regeneration.

Did you know that Nimrod actually means Great Hunter, and our common use of it as an insult is entirely the fault of Bugs Bunny? Rodimus Prime kind of lives up to the actual meaning. Run him at his lower cost and he’s a nasty recruiter who can step in if enemies get close. Run him at the full value and remember the glory days of single-target Pulse Wave. His disintegration beam requires some finesse, and the limits of range make it tightly focused, but that kind of helps keep his fellow robots from being blown up also.

#048 Deadpool
Real Name: Wade Wilson
Team: Team Player
Range: 5
Points: 40
Keywords: Deadpool Corps, Weapon X, X-Men, Pirate

10 10 18 3

10 10 17 3

8 11 17 2

8 11 16 2

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

FLOATIES FOR EVERYONE: Adjacent friendly characters have "dolphin symbol".
MY HEALING FACTOR IS MOSTLY BATTLING SUNBURN: At the end of your turn, heal Deadpool 1 click.
WHAT PART OF "POOL" DIDN'T YOU UNDERSTAND?: Phasing / Teleport. // FREE: Generate up to 4 water terrain markers in squares within range and line of fire. At the begining of your next turn (even if lost), remove them.

40 points of free water terrain, with the buff that Dolphin pieces just got, is going to make Wade here one of the most wanted pieces in the set. Which, honestly, not a mutant, shouldn’t be on Krakoa, etc etc. But it’s a fun piece, cute sculpt, great powers, and just begs to run around with all my lovely Atlanteans.

#049 Monarch
Real Name: James Braddock Jr.
Team: Cosmic Energy,Mystics
Range: 7
Points: 50
Keywords: X-Men, Cosmic, Mystical, Ruler

10 11 18 3

9 11 17 3

8 12 17 2

7 12 18 2

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

I DO LOVE GIFTS: Monarch starts the game with one hindering, one water, and one blocking terrain marker on his card. // When an opposing character generates terrain, after resolutions you may place a terrain marker of the type they generated on this card.
IT'S ONLY REALITY: FREE: Remove a terrain marker from this card to choose one:
Generate a terrain marker of that type in a square within range.
Remove a terrain marker of that type in a square within range.
WITCHBREED KING OF AVALON: Leadership. When Monarch uses it and succeeds, he may immediately remove a terrain marker from his card. If he does, this turn friendly characters adjacent to or occupying terrain of that type are considered adjacent to him.

“With every fiber of my being I stab at thee, as long as blood flows through this heart I will hunt you down. I will be the stuff of your children's nightmares. And then, when nothing can be heard but your cries of agony, I will pull the chain and let the beast devour you. Mark my words: I will have my revenge, DR. VENTURE!.” Okay, wrong Monarch. Not the one I wanted to see, honestly. If Wizkids ever releases a Venture Brothers set, I’ll die happy. Instead we get a piece that harkens back to Absolon. The less physically gifted Braddock brother is actually far, far more powerful. He’s a reality warper that is basically a walking Infinity Stone. And instead we get some terrain manipulation and pulse wave. That’s useful! But it could be more useful. Monarch could easily be the big bad of the set, or at least one of them, but-gestures at dial.

#050 Abigail Brand
Real Name: Abigail Brand
Team: S.H.I.E.L.D.
Range: 6
Points: 40
Keywords: S.W.O.R.D., X-Men, Politician, Soldier

8 11 17 3

8 11 17 2

8 10 17 2

7 10 17 2

7 10 17 2

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

Protecting the Earth for Mutants and Humans alike: Leadership.// When Establishing themed teams, characters on your starting force with the X-Men keyword gain the S.W.O.R.D. keyword.
Personal Teleportation Device: Phasing/Teleport. When Abigail Brand uses it and moves 4 squares or less, after resolutions she may make an attack.
I head the Sentient Worlds Observation and Response Department: Friendly characters within range that can use (X-Men TA) can use (SHIELD TA).

When this green haired superspy first showed up in Morrison’s New X-Men, I thought we just had a cool Space version of Nick Fury. And we do! But we’ve now got maybe the most lethal version of the character we’ll ever see. Not only do we get a great little teleporting sniper with some psiblast, but EVERY X-Man near her gets to join SHIELD? And Peepers is just hanging out up there in the Uncommons? Green is the new black.

#051 Wiz-Kid
Real Name: Takeshi Matsuya
Team: S.H.I.E.L.D.
Range: 6
Points: 45
Keywords: S.W.O.R.D., X-Factor, X-Men, Armor, Robot, Scientist

8 9 18 1

8 9 17 1

8 9 17 1

8 9 17 1

8 9 18 1

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

BUILT FOR ONE ONLY: Passengers: 0. At the beginning of your turn, you may place Wiz-Kid in an adjacent square.
MUTANT TECHNOPATH: FREE: Choose an adjacent friendly character with the Armor or Robot keyword that hasn't attacked this turn. This turn, Wiz-Kid replaces his attack and damage values with the printed attack and damage values of the chosen character, and the chosen character can't attack or be chosen for this effect by other characters.
NEED TIME TO RUN THE VARIABLES: Enhancement, Outwit, Perplex.

Where is the Fallen Angels keyword?! What hope have we now for Don and Bill? Seriously, go read the Fallen Angels arc from the late 80’s. Jo Duffy literally gives us a blue and green set of lobsters. Actual crustaceans. One of them a mutant. It was an era. What Takeshi does give us instead of cybernetic mutant seafood is one of the most amazing support pieces for Robot teams I’ve seen. Park his amazing hoverchair next to a Sentinel and just let him go to town. 20 defense at range means he’ll dodge incoming fire, while Calculating the Variables will buff attack and damage and remove opposing defenses. Then push the friendly robot and let Takeshi take his own shot. Until this Wiz-Kid changes his scale, puts himself on the Watch List, or retires, I’d expect anything.

052 Unique Hope Summers
Real Name: Hope Summers
Team: Team Player
Range: 6
Points: 40/100
Keywords: Avengers, Phoenix Force, The Five, X-Force, X-Men, Cosmic, Future

8 10 17 3

8 11 17 3

10 11 17 3

10 11 17 3

l l l l l l

10 11 18 4

10 11 17 4

12 12 17 3

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

Mutant Messiah: Mastermind, Leadership. // If Hope Summers is 40 points, she is KO'd when her dial clicks past the red KO line. Protected: Pulse Wave.
Omega Level Power Mimicry: FREE: Choose a character within range and line of fire and 2 standard powers they can use. Hope Summers can use the chosen powers until your next turn.
White Phoenix: STOP. Invincible. When this power is first revealed, for the rest of the game Hope Summers has , [Cosmic Energy team ability], and can't be healed above this click.

What a Hope dial. This piece is going to be all over the place. So many power combinations, Mastermind, Leadership, Empower, TK, Outwit, the RS/Psyblast on the back half…and any two powers from a local character. Not just friendlies. Oh, and if you feel like dropping the points into her, she picks up the Phoenix Force. What people probably won’t see coming is her using Mastermind once she’s gone Cosmic. That’s going to make her really hard to bring back to Earth. And just imagine playing her with the rest of the Five, and seeing her come back again.

#053a Arcade
Real Name: Unknown
Team: Team Player
Range: 6
Points: 40
Keywords: Assassin, Robot

8 10 18 3

8 10 18 3

8 10 17 3

7 10 17 3

7 11 17 3

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

WELCOME TO MURDERWORLD!: If Arcade's controller chose the map, he has: "Power: Choose a piece of blocking terrain within range. Generate a Killer Robot bystander in a square adjacent to that piece of terrain."// If Arcade's controller did not choose the map, he has: "At the beginning of the game, give Arcade 3 Killer Robot tokens.// Free: Remove a Killer Robot token to generate a Killer Robot bystander."
YOU PLAY BY MY RULES NOW!: Mastermind, Willpower. When Arcade uses Mastermind, friendly bystanders within range are considered adjacent.
LEAVING SO SOON? THE FUN JUST GOT STARTED!: Leadership. When Arcade uses it and succeeds, you may instead generate a Killer Robot bystander and it can use "autonomous" this turn.

Killer Robot
Team: No Affiliation
Range: 4

8 10 17 1

Honestly, did not see him making the set. Very happy to see him show up though. Should have a Miss Locke Bystander just to be as iconic as possible. Without her though, you’ve got an amazing version of Arcade. Tons of Mastermind potential and robot bystanders that have buzzsaws for arms. Arcade plus map choice is so sharp it’ll make playing an Assassin team worth your investment.

#053b Prime Mad Jim Jaspers
Real Name: Sir James Jaspers
Team: Cosmic Energy
Range: 5
Points: 35
Keywords: Cosmic, Mystical, Politician, Ruler

8 12 18 1

8 12 18 1

8 11 17 2

8 11 17 2

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

The Crooked Market: FREE: Choose an equipped friendly character within range and line of fire. Replace their equipped equipment with another equipment of equal or less points from your sideline. // POWER: Once per game choose a friendly unequipped character within range and line of fire and choose an equipment from your Sideline. Equip the chosen character with the equipment.
Shifting Stalls: Super Senses, Barrier. Barrier as FREE, but only to generate 2 markers.

Yet another character from the fevered mind of Alan Moore that is significantly de-powered for his Clix appearance, Mad Jim is another reality-warper who can shame the Infinity Stones for how much effect he can have on multiversal existence. Here’s a guy who can create his own universes at will, reduced to some Barrier and Equipment manipulation. Granted, that’s hella strong in the Heroclix world, but it’s not what he could have been. This guy is going to show up all over the place at big events though, which in itself is kind of a great representation of the Jaspers Warp. Fun fact-he might have been involved in the Trial of Magneto, way back in Uncanny 200.

054 X-23
Real Name: Laura Kinney
Team: No Affiliation,X-Men
Range: 0
Points: 90
Keywords: Weapon X, X-Men, X-Force, Assassin, Martial Artist

10 12 17 3

8 11 18 3

8 11 17 3

8 10 17 2

8 10 16 2

8 10 16 2

8 12 16 2

6 8 12 1

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

Movement: Characters
I Heal Faster than Logan: At the beginning of your turn you may heal X-23 1 click.//At the end of your, turn you may heal X-23 1 click.
X-Force Experience: Charge, Stealth. When X-23 uses Charge, if she occupies hindering terrain, she doesn't half movement.
Blades Expert: Blades/Claws/Fangs. When X-23 uses it, instead roll two d6 and choose one to be the result.
Unparalleled Healing: STOP. Each time this click is revealed if X-23 is the only character on your force, KO her.

This isn’t X-23. This is Wolverine. Laura is better than Logan in every possible way here. I don’t even need to go on here. It’s gonna take a concentrated effort to survive facing her. If you pulled her, enjoy one of the best SRs in recent memory.

#055 Summoner
Real Name: None
Team: Mystics
Range: 0
Points: 120
Keywords: Arakko, Horsemen, X-Men, Mystical

10 12 18 3

10 11 18 3

8 11 18 3

8 10 17 3

8 11 18 3

8 10 18 3

7 10 18 3

6 9 17 2

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

SWORD BEARER: +5 Points. This character starts the game with any Sword equipment equipped.
I AM EVERYWHERE: Phasing/Teleport, Stealth. // When Summoner uses Phasing/Teleport and moves 5 squares or less, after resolutions he may make a close attack.
ONE DOES NOT ATTACK ME AND LIVE: STOP. Invulnerability. // When this click is first revealed from damage taken by an opposing character's attack, after resolutions generate one of each bystander on this card that's not already on the map. Protected: Pulse Wave
I AM A SUMMONER OF MANY THINGS. MOST OF ALL... LIES: Outwit, Shape Change. Perplex, but may only target opposing characters.
Uhr'oggloth
Team: No Affiliation
Range: 0
Points: 0

6 10 18 4

Hool-Go-Dir
Team: No Affiliation
Range: 0
Points: 0

8 11 17 2

Dur
Team: No Affiliation
Range: 0
Points: 0
[click]

4 9 17 3

THE UNDYING: Impervious. When Dur uses it, instead roll two d6 and choose one to be the result.

#s007 COLONY (Light Object)
Indestructible
Equip: Any
Unequip: Drop
Effect: Blades/Claws/Fangs, Exploit Weakness. When this character uses Blades/Claws/Fangs, if the target shares a keyword with this character increase the damage dealt by 1.
Point Value: 10

In the Inner Sphere, this guy is referred to as a Thor. Summoner is a pinata of fun, especially if you try to pronounce the names of the guys you bring in. I swear, the Arrako naming sessions must have been a TRIP. Hool-Go-Dir is just going to be sick, allowing you to drop a Ronco-Peel right on someone’s head. It slices, it dices, it makes Julienne fries…just be glad none of them drop with support. I’m kind of glad he only generates when hit, otherwise this guy would be even more brutal.

#059 Redroot the Forest
Real Name: Unknown
Team: No Affiliation
Range: 0
Points: 60
Keywords: Arakko, Mystical, Warrior

4 12 17 3

4 11 17 3

4 11 17 3

4 11 17 2

4 11 17 2

4 10 17 2

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

SWORD BEARER: +5 Points. This character starts the game with any Sword equipment equipped.
TWISTING, WEAVING, GROWING: When Redroot the Forest uses Smoke Cloud, after resolutions you may generate a Twisting Vine bystander [MAX 3] in a square with a hindering terrain marker generated during that action. // FREE: choose one to generate in a square within 6 squares and line of fire:
A hindering terrain marker
A Twisting Vine bystander [MAX 3]
SHIFTING FOLIAGE: Plasticity, Stealth. // FREE: Place Redroot the Forest in a square of hindering terrain within 6 squares and line of fire.

Twisting Vine
Team: No Affiliation
Range: 0
Points: 0

0 10 10 0

CONSTRICTING VEGETATION: UNIQUE MODIFIER - If a friendly character named Redroot the Forest is within 3 squares, adjacent opposing characters modify attack and defense -1.

#s008 ALLUVIUM (Light Object)
Indestructible
Equip: Any
Unequip: Drop
Effect: Blades/Claws/Fangs. When this character uses it, after resolutions this character may use Smoke Cloud as FREE.
Point Value: 10

I think that I shall never see
A tie-up piece so like a tree.
And if I create a dearth of vine
My victory pose shall smell of pine.

Do we need to get a Plant keyword to go with Animal? Give it to all our Groots, and Poisons Ivy? I don’t like his low speed, I don’t like his lack of regen, would have been great to see something like “If adjacent to a square of water terrain, heal one click.” But he’s got Out of the Shadows and a massive attack value, with penetrating damage all the way down. Look for ways to use the combination of Smoke Cloud and Vines to get attack values down into the Sinister era, and he’ll bear fruit.

Now tidge:

At this point in the article series, I want to congratulate TPTB at WizKids for a couple of things:

1) Early reports of distribution indicate that the bricks/cases have returned to an expected "baseline" of 3 SRs plus "something else" like a prime/chase plus a number of tarot cards and sword(bearers). I was very afraid that this set would be like HoX with its absolute terribly low fraction of SRs.

2) I'm not a great fan of the "reserve better special powers to SRs" (see also the number of "swords" among the SRs/Chases), but... given this paradigm I think that TPTB did a very good job assigning SR slots to a slate characters that offer something for everyone. The dials are all quite good (YMMV), the characters are welcome, there are some that will appeal to the "raw power" crowd, a few for the "finesse" crowd, and a few with some "meta" potential.... not to mention "sword completists".

I wonder if my rosy assessment may be hopelessly biased by my own personal pulls from my brick. I usually only self-spoil the character lists, but I will admit that I peek at (most of) the SR & Chase dials early... I tell myself that I do this to emotionally brace myself for some level of disappointment. I prefer to have a somewhat complete set of figures, but with distribution and public perception of "value" there are almost always a couple of characters that fall into the category of "If I don't pull them, I am unlikely to ever own them." Without folks publicly revealing their planned shenanigans with certain figures, as well as my own personal history of having peculiarly bad luck opening boosters containing specific characters, I had already resigned myself to not being likely to track down certain figures.

My own brick shocked me, in that it contained a number of SR+Chase figures that I felt (for various reasons) would elude me: Nimrod, X-23, Wiz-Kid, CHApocalypse. I've had good luck with the recent Apocalypse pulls, yet as a sword-bearer this was a want no matter the dial (or the eventuality of the grand prize figure). Both Nimrod and X-23 have always both been bêtes noire for me (no matter the rarity, except of course for the accursed 2x2 Nimrod) and given what these dials do, I fully expect them to fall firmly into the category of "most players will demand them, just to try to exploit their dial tricks". Prime-Rod is firmly in the category of "oh yeah that looks like an 'auto-win' piece"... right or wrong, I don't expect people to part with that SR Prime easily. Wiz-Kid is more of finesse piece, but Robot is one of those keywords that some fraction of players simply can't help themselves to try to exploit. Pulling it from the same brick as Prime-Rod was also a shocker.

Sigh. I serve you Rodimus Prime like a fine wine in a crystal decanter and you use Prime Rod like some Busch-light chugging madman.

"This isn’t X-23. This is Wolverine. Laura is better than Logan in every possible way here. I don’t even need to go on here."

Sigh, I know. I get tired of these derivative characters being made out to be better than their counterparts. Not to mention I like her as X-23 (cool character) then they had to go and start calling her Wolverine. It's like Elektra right now wearing a modified DD costume. What's wrong with just being Elektra? She is a great and original character and does not need the mantle of another character to be significant. They go from being original characters to simple knock-offs.

Sorry for the rant, just a pet peeve of mine.

It's always great when someone makes a Battletech/MechWarrior reference.

It's even better when someone catches it, trust me.

Wasn't this the game where people still say Alpha Strike? Lol

That Deadpool alongside Captain Kate Pryde and her Merry Marauders made for the best pirate team!