Spiritual Tactician (Expert Ronan EZ video guide)

I’ve definitely come to really appreciate Cyclops this past week from the minimalist matchup. Can’t wait to try this one! I love that it’s using his ally ability and leans into your play style. I think you trademark the “round table” strategy of having 12 allies. Or at least as a Summers’ family trait!

@andyr Wow thanks Andy! I definitely don’t think I trademarked it, but I’m absolutely loving the Summers family with allies :)

X-Men allies in particular have so many powerful “enter play”/“played from hand” abilities it really gives Cyclops versatility to deal with so many different problems.

One of my favorite heroes both in the comics and the game - excited to try this out, though I'm waiting for AoA to dive back into Cyclops to try out all the new X toys that are coming with that.

@MrSelfDestruct Cyclops is awesome! His Optic Blast needing tactic upgrades feels thematic and so well done to me. I imagine the responsibility he carries preventing him from using his Optic Blast unless he’s in a controlled situation, which the tactic upgrades provide. Also can’t wait to see new allies/supports for X-Men in AoA. Deck space is limited and the existing allies are already so versatile/powerful, I wouldn’t know what to take out. Probably Angel? Anyways hope you enjoy this combo when you get back around to Cyke :)

@Web-Warrior Fanatic I'm going to have to give this a shot as well. I never liked Cyclops in the comics but Man I love playing him in champions. I love being able to use the allies from all the aspects and his ability to do 3 damage with his optic blast is awesome especially once the Visor is out.

@Castlefrank47 Cyclops is a blast. It's interesting to hear you enjoy his hero kit but aren't a fan of the actual character--usually it's the other way around haha. I take it you're more of puzzle guy since Cyclops feels like that when everything clicks. Hope you enjoy this list and please lmk how it goes as always :)

@Web-Warrior Fanatic I definitely will. Im always enjoyed strategy and deckbuilding (back to my yu-gi-oh days lol) I was not a puzzle guy when I first got the game but after seeing all these decks and getting more comfortable with playing I would say I am.

@Castlefrank47 Heck yea! Yu-Gi-Oh is my first big strategy card game too. Yu-Gi-Oh definitely felt like creative decks had no shot against meta decks which is probably why I enjoy Marvel Champions so much because a lot of the strongest decks can still be incredibly creative and fun. Cool to hear how this game changed your preferences.

at first i wasnt sure about meditation, but i love the combo with Utopia and honorary xmen. do you find that one copy of honorary is an issue though?

@Web-Warrior Fanatic yu-gi-oh is where I developed my taste for avoiding the meta lol. I definitely would check out the meta but I usually ran what I liked (machines and zombies) just to see if I could compete

@dr00 Thanks!!! In my experience against Ronan, it was a little difficult to flip down during the first deckpass anyways because of the villain’s pressure. Meditation is always amazing on turn 1, but after that it really shines mid-late game with this list. Because I needed to go through a deckpass for other pieces like Utopia and ideally Uncanny X-Men, I didn’t find 1 copy of Honorary X-Men to be a problem. That being said, I think putting 3 copies of Honorary X-Men would be really good! It’s not really ever a dead card with Cyke because it can always just give an ally an extra activation if it’s already on our identity. I’m not sure what to take out but that’s an awesome idea.

@Castlefrank47 Hahaha yea a lot of the meta decks revolved around archetypes that weren’t that appealing to me in the anime. I loved the art on Red-Eyes Zombie Dragon but not sure if it was ever good. But I’m real glad I’m on Marvel Champions now.

@Web-Warrior Fanatic definitely. I feel like champions has done a good job of making just about every hero viable. Obviously they all have strengths but the community has shown that you can make just about every hero work in any aspect. I love it

@Castlefrank47 Absolutely! And the combos are endless. I love this community and how everyone shares their ideas.

I dunno whose saying Cyclops is weak. He's just as viable as Storm as an X-Men Leadership hero, plus he has some SAVAGE dps builds. Overall, I dig the deck!

@GhostWithKnife Thanks! I think Cyclops has a lot of fans but is a little misunderstood as well. I agree he can definitely put out damage if needed :)

Hey, W.W.F.,

I love this build, but I don’t have NXE expansion yet. Is there another PSS you think can replace this in the meantime? I have all the other boxes and all the heroes packs except - Psylocke, Nebula and Valkyrie. Any recommendation at all.

@jerpanic Hey glad you like this list! I would recommend swapping Build Support out with either a second copy of Honorary X-Men or Uncanny X-Men. This deck would play almost the exact same if you do that, so no player side schemes necessary :)

I just got done building this deck, WWF. This will be my first ever play with Cyclops. I’m a noob and just became content complete in X-Men world.

@jerpanic Good luck!!! Super excited for you. Lmk if you have any questions and hope you have fun!

I think this is gonna be my ideal Cyclops deck. He's my favorite x-men (thanks to the comics, no thanks to his wimp movie versions). Thank you, @Web-Warrior Fanaticfor giving me the tools to enjoy him the most.

Despite his potential, my first tries have been difficult, mainly because of his economy...indeed, this seems like the solution.

Question: if other players need a few of these allies for their decks, which other allies would be next on your list to include in this deck, can you name a few? What allies in the latest previews seem like worthy inclusions? Triage seems like an autoinclude. Are Cable, X23 or Marrow worth it if you add more Honorary Xmen? Legion, Goldballs, Tempus, Shark Girl, Husk, Chamber...how about Advance Suit? Thanks a lot in advance!

@Leo_the_wookiee I’ll try to answer your question as best as I can! I don’t know all of the unreleased cards yet so this is just from what I’ve seen.

Priority list for allies to include if missing cards:

-Wolverine

-Armor

-Colossus

-Tempus (Unreleased)

-Triage (Unreleased)

-Shark-Girl (Unreleased)

I wouldn’t include X-Force characters in this deck because it might be a little too slow to set them up because Cyclops needs an Honorary X-Men on himself first to flip down to AE. I’m usually just looking for utility and having allies block but Wolverine is an exception because he’s so good with piercing and ability to Beat Cop. He still didn’t make the original list because I wanted higher tempo utility over damage. For who to take out, Angel is the only ally that doesn’t have an essential ability so I would take him out. I think Triage is amazing, but I didn’t find a need for healing in this deck because with Uncanny X-Men’s +1 HP I found myself killing off allies by hitting the ally limit lol.

Hope this list helps! I really appreciate your comment and hope you enjoy this version of Cyclops. I’m obsessed with X-Men ‘97 and just started the Mojomania campaign with this deck… we’ll see how it goes :)

@Web-Warrior Fanatic @Castlefrank47 I also started with yugioh when I was a kid and just found this game to be much more fun to deckbuild for.

@Daring Lime Welcome to the Yugioh squad haha. I really liked Yugioh before I learned about the meta and back when playing a Summoned Skull lets you dominate the board for 1-2 turns. Marvel Champions has so many more creative deckbuilding options that are still powerful and viable so I feel you on that.

@Daring Lime this game is definitely better in terms of deck building. I loved yu-gi-oh but as @Web-Warrior Fanatic said the meta would limit your ability to compete if you werent sticking to it for the most part. Champions imo offers the ability to deckbuild in different aspects and still be able to function. @Web-Warrior Fanatic there were so many different metas that game went through lol when mirror force first came out and people would be afraid to attack was something else

@Castlefrank47 Hahaha I was one of those people! Good times being wary to tribute summon into a trap hole.

I've heard that Marvel Champions is more similar to Magic so it's always cool to see players with Yugioh origins!

@Web-Warrior Fanatic another frustrating puzzle lol I had some friends who played magic but I never got into that one. Definitely cool to see people who started in similar places!

i like this deck a lot, only change I mad was adding Moira. since you flip so much the extra card is triggered often

@weaves74 Glad you're enjoying this deck! You're on point that Moira MacTaggert will meet its triggering condition often with this decklist. Good addition and thanks for your feedback!

Awesome! So, Angel is the first one out If we want to add another ally. What else could/should we remove to add Moira and another Honorary X-men?

@Leo_the_wookiee For more Honorary X-Men, I would recommend taking out "To Me, My X-Men!" first, then Build Support if you want 3x copies of Honorary. For Moira, I would take out Avengers Mansion. Avengers Mansion is the least essential support to this deck running smoothly, but I prefer it because it's easy to get out as a great Meditation target!

This deck was my first build and play with Cyclops. It helped with timing, tactics, and ally usage big time. An instructional deck for the new and grizzled vet who hasn’t played Cy in a while. You’ll learn how to use the upgrades at how to cherish Full Blast.

@jerpanic thanks so much for commenting your feedback! I really appreciate the kind review. It’s very cool that you were able to make this into your own and put your own spin on it!

W.W.F. And dr00 and all ya all!!!

• I ditched Build Support and “To Me, My X-Men!”

• Moira and

+1 Honorary X-Men (two total in deck)

Kept Avengers Mansion

Pummeled!

Side Note: dr00, I’ve been Playing villain decks with Guards and medium to high amounts of minions. So, I ditched Sunfire, Nightcrawler, Forge

FOR: Wolverine, Colossus and Ice Man

The deck that inspired all of this is AWESOME! It gives the layout and build to succeed.

@jerpanic Thanks so much! I love your minion slaying version of this deck and agree that Moira + 2nd copy of Honorary X-Men are great inclusions. Thanks for updating us which cards worked well for you :)

I think this deck could be better by getting away from the Meditation angle and replacing those three cards with something like: Triskelion, Team Training, and Moira. Or possibly one more copy of TMMX rather than Team Training.

@J__G Meditation is the key card for this deck to build out Cyclops' board! The cards you mentioned are all great, but I found allies already having too many hit points anyways and late game they're chump blocking with 2-3 extra hit points so I don't think it would be necessary. Like I said in a previous comment, "To Me, My X-Men!" is actually one of the most expendable cards for this deck despite its great value because we can easily play expensive allies with Meditation.

@Web-Warrior Fanatic with the new AoA cards - would you substitute anything for this deck amigo?

@elderpapagaio I personally would not put any new AoA cards in this deck because deck space is particularly tight with this Cyclops deck and I've found that things run smoothly as is. The card I would consider the most from AoA is Stepford Cuckoos (for the safety net of having that treachery cancel)!

Regarding Meditation, I see that once you have Uncanny X-Men in play, only three out of your 12 allies have a discounted cost that would be fully covered by Meditation. Moreover, none of the upgrades or events have a cost of 3+, so my concern is how often you a have the chance to meditate with no cards in hand with a cost of 3+. Thoughts on this?

@Alexin Meditation is played several times in every game I play with this deck! I like to ready back up with Utopia, but it’s still effective playing expensive supports like Uncanny X-Men, X-Jet, or Avengers Mansion with the cost reduction. There’s also 8 allies that we can target if Uncanny isn’t in play yet. Meditation is usually most effective early game to build out the board (which it still is here), but I find it powerful to flip down mid game and play an expensive ally that confuses like Dazzler or Psylocke (who are still 3 cost after Uncanny). I have playthroughs in the deck description showcasing Meditation being played with its full value if you’re curious :)

Hey! We just got the reveal of some new X-men allies in Iceman and Nightcrawler pack (i'm already proxying some). Will any of these be making a cut (Rogue, Gambit, Beak, Shadowcat, Glob)? You've already mentioned that Shark-Girl doesn't look good enough to be in the top 11 X-men allies for this deck...

Love Cyclops and love this deck idea. Did you consider a copy of Regroup? I know that card works better in multiplayer but I often find a use for it in any of my ally-heavy leadership decks.

@BoardGameKid thanks! I think Regroup is a really strong and synergistic card for Cyclops. Deck space is really tight unfortunately and this deck runs more in alter-ego. The tactic keyword is huge though, i would definitely take out “To Me, My X-Men!”

@Leo_the_wookiee Beak definitely makes the cut! The other new X-Men allies don’t provide more utility than the old ones. I would take out “To Me, My X-Men!” or the Angel ally for Beak.