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Box review: Phoenix and Phoenix Unleashed

 

Asmodee Deutschland send me a couple of boxes to review, the first of which being the Icons of Bast terrain pack and the second as you've probably guessed from the title: Phoenix and Phoenix Unleashed which we look at today. 



While it's definitely helpful to have a look at the instructions here building Phoenix, Phoenix Unleashed and the Flame Pillars didn't take especially long. I'd say they are better for people with a bit of building experience so maybe shouldn't be your very first model. But if you've built the core set or the upcoming X-Men starter set you should definitely be able to tackle this box without much difficulties. 






The minis, especially Phoenix Unleashed, are absolutely stunning and are surely eye-catching on the board. They are great for people walking around in your FLG and noticing them while you play. And everything that gets more people interested in this game is a win in and of itself. 




Now let's look at the rules and where we might want to play Jean in her strongest form. 


In her normal form Phoenix doesn't stick out as a super strong 6 threat in my opinion. Her throw is obviously amazing and her attacks are good, while the heal is also nice. Being a small base medium mover with no inherent action economy is a problem though. 


Phoenix Unleashed will burn bright and fast like a supernova. You absolutely need to be able to beam right after she transforms or she will be gone after only one activation. And she basically has to win you the game in that form. 

Being Jean Grey she can play Mental Domination which is a great card for all its users and should absolutely be in consideration for any list you include Phoenix in but she also comes with three personal TTCs in her box: 


Especially in a team that can hand out Incinerate from multiple sources this can be quite good and getting rid of a Phoenix token in normal form can be very helpful. You don't really want to use it in Unleashed form but at least the card is not dead when you ultimately flip. 


If Phoenix would be dazed something has already gone wrong. Note also that it will push and Incinerate allied characters as well as enemy characters. 


Can only work on a very low scoring crisis combination as most games end after round 4 nowadays, but if you can pull it off it can be game winning. 


Now where could you play Phoenix? Well it's MCP so everywhere you like but let's look at some specific ideas here. 

1. In affiliation: 
Sadly Phoenix is only affiliated in Uncanny X-Men. I would have expected Hellfire Club too. 

In X-Men I think she will work best under Professor X as that leadership can provide her the necessary power most reliably. 

Characters (10)
Phoenix (6)
* Professor X (4)
Nightcrawler (4)
Psylocke (4)
Magik (3)
Gambit (3)
Colossus (4)
* Cable (5)
Beast (3)
Angel (3)

Team Tactics (10)
Brace for Impact (R)
Children of the Atom
First Class
Journey Through Limbo
Mental Domination
The White-Hot Room
To Me My X-Men
Ultimate Sacrifice
Xavier‘s Dream
Fall Back (R)

Secure Crisis
Mutant Madman Turns City Into Lethal Amusement Park (B, 18)
Guardians Save Shi‘ar Empress in Style (M, 17)
M‘Kraan Crystal Gets Heroes Home! (G, 19)

Extract Crisis
Scientific Samples Found in Discovered Universe (D, 17)
Unexpected Guests Crash Royal Wedding (N, 17)
Inhumans Deploy Advanced Weaponry (O, 18)


2. Keeping Phoenix on the normal side as long as possible: 

For the second archetype we try to have big tanky characters alongside Phoenix so the tactic of simply dazing her friends to flip her quickly doesn't really work. 
We've chosen Kingpin led Criminal Syndicate for that. 

Characters (10)
Phoenix (6)
Abomination (5)
* Kingpin (4)
Silver Sable (4)
Taskmaster (3)
Mysterio (3)
Gwenpool (4)
* Shadowland Daredevil (4)
Black Cat (3)
Rhino (4)

Team Tactics (10)
All According To Plan
Cruelty
Fall Back (R)
Brace for Impact (R)
Mental Domination
No Mercy
Shadow Organization
The Grand Illusion
They Say Keep Your Enemies Close...
This is a Robbery

Secure Crisis
Infinity Formula Goes Missing! (B, 17)
Riots Spark Over Extremis 3.0 (D, 17)
Super-Powered Scoundrels Form Sinister Syndicate (F, 20)

Extract Crisis
Struggle For The Cube Continues (F, 17)
Unexpected Guests Crash Royal Wedding (N, 17)
Inhumans Deploy Advanced Weaponry (O, 18)

We have Shadowland Daredevil here for Pay to Flips and Silver Sable as someone who can help Jean move around the table without having to spend movement actions herself. An added bonus to the Kingpin plan here is that Phoenix doesn't have an injured side. Just two healthy ones. 

3. You're going to regret to kill my friends: 

In stark contrast to the Kingpin plan here we have chosen Sam Wilson led Avengers that get a leadership trigger each time and allied character is dazed or KOed, really having your opponent this twice if they want to do it. Phoenix is an excellent recipient of the leadership trigger, helping with both her mobility and her power generation. 

Characters (10)
Phoenix (6)
* Captain America (Sam Wilson) (3)
Luke Cage (3)
Black Widow (2)
Doctor Voodoo (4)
Shang-Chi (4)
Quicksilver (3)
Hawkeye (3)
Beast (3)
Lockjaw (3)

Team Tactics (10)
Avengers Assemble
Brace for Impact (R)
Can I Borrow That?
Chi Mastery
Heroes for Hire
Second Wind
Recalibration Matrix
The White-Hot Room
Vertical Assistance
Fall Back (R)

Secure Crisis
Infinity Formula Goes Missing! (B, 17)
Riots Spark Over Extremis 3.0 (D, 17)
Super-Powered Scoundrels Form Sinister Syndicate (F, 20)

Extract Crisis
Unexpected Guests Crash Royal Wedding (N, 17)
Inhumans Deploy Advanced Weaponry (O, 18)
Struggle For The Cube Continues (F, 17)

4. Let it all burn 

And finally we have my favorite but most likely least competitive option on this list. It's a roster I call Burn Baby Burn ❤️‍🔥 

Characters (10)
* Mephisto, Lord of Temptation (5)
Phoenix (6)
Pyro (3)
Crystal (3)
Bishop (4)
Man-Thing (3)
Gwenpool (4)
* Baron Strucker (3)
Rocket Raccoon (2)
Silver Sable (4)

Team Tactics (10)
Brace for Impact (R)
Devil‘s Reckoning
Fall Back (R)
Flames of Life
Mental Domination
Pyrotechnics
Sable International
They Say Keep Your Enemies Close...
Up the Ante
Elemental Infusion

Secure Crisis
Infinity Formula Goes Missing! (B, 17)
Mutant Madman Turns City Into Lethal Amusement Park (B, 18)
M‘Kraan Crystal Gets Heroes Home! (G, 19)

Extract Crisis
The Montesi Formula Found (E, 18)
Inhumans Deploy Advanced Weaponry (O, 18)
Scientific Samples Found in Discovered Universe (D, 17)

Here no less than 8 of the 10 characters can hand out Incinerate and we use Pyro to turn that into VP aside from obviously trying to kill them all. 

Thanks again to Asmodee Deutschland for the box and Cheers from Germany 🍻 




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