Upcoming 4-Star Character - Cyclops (Classic)

Hi all,

Since he's already on the record as coming, and it's not long before he's released, we are taking the wraps off our newest 4-Star. Premiering 10/8 with the first run of Galactus Hungers, we'll be seeing more of the wonderfully '90s Cyclops (Classic) out there!



We hunted down Producer Joe Fletcher again for a quick chat about bringing Cyclops to the game and what his abilities may mean for player team choices.

Q: Tell us what Cyclops (Classic) brings to MPQ. How does he differ from Cyclops (Uncanny X-Men)?

A: Cyclops (Classic) not only brings Scott forward into 4* land, but also gives players a different power set to take advantage of when looking for some Cyclops power to add to their roster. A maxed and boosted 3* Cyclops (Uncanny) will be a brute force monster that can deal lots of damage with his Red and Black, but he's not really one for any board control. Occasional accidental cascades with Yellow and maybe Red, sure, but that's about it. Classic on the other hand brings quite a bit of that damage potential across as well as introducing a ton of board control with both his Red and Blue abilities. If you have the choice of a boosted Uncanny or a maxed Classic, it's going to come down to a choice on skill set, not power, which is definitely something we were going for.

Q: What’s the lowdown on Cyclops (Classic)’s skillset and some of the thinking behind the design?

A: As I said before, Cyclops (Classic) specializes in board control while still bringing the ruby pain. His Red and Blue smash the board in specific ways while his Yellow allows his team to score bonus AP on Team-Up matches, which turns that one match that no one wants to make into something to definitely go after. Red is his staple optic blasts, called Combined Forces. With this ability Scott pops a chosen Basic tile and deals damage. If the team has enough Team-Up AP, he amps up the power a bit. Instead of blasting a single tile, he now destroys the entire row with some additional damage akin to Hawkeye's Arrow Stab. Cyclops gets a bit more power out of his blast than Hawkeye's little arrow though. At max level, we're talking 5394 base and 11851 increased damage for 10 AP. The increased damage comes at the cost of draining 10 Team-Up AP, but that really hurts. And unlike Cyclops (Uncanny), Classic doesn't stun himself on a full blast of power. Yellow is his utility ability just as it is with Uncanny, with Uncanny Strategist. Here, for a measly 5 Yellow AP, Scott creates a Countdown tile on a Yellow tile. While this CD is on the board, any Team-Up AP matched by the team also adds bonus AP to the team's strongest color, as well as increasing the timer on the CD. So it not only stays out longer, but it also provides direct benefit to matching up Team-Up AP. I've been messing around with using this as a build centerpiece at max level actually. I'm still trying to figure out a more reliable way of working it out, but pushing out one of these and matching up some Team-Up AP (at 3 TU AP and 4 Red) with Cyclops in the top position means that I can really boost the speed to get a powered up Combined Forces out. Captain Marvel's Strategic Command certainly helps there, but she's only a 2* so not usually reliable to be on the team, and keeping Team-Ups stocked for her isn't the easiest. Lastly, his Blue is named Called Shot. This one just got a minor tweak to it yesterday morning actually, making it a bit more generally useful when it was more situational before. Called Shot has Cyclops choose a basic tile, then blows up that tile and all Red tiles in a 3x3 grid around it, gaining AP for each tile destroyed. Then it goes ahead and smacks the enemy for some straight out damage too. Originally, it only used the targeted tile for positioning of the grid, but it turned out that it made the ability very situational and nigh useless if the board wasn't soaked in Red tiles. At 8 AP, it was a bit much to use for 2-3 Red AP and a bit of damage. Now it also pops the targeted tile, so it can be used for cascade generation even when it won't be used for Red tiles. Additionally, as it levels, it also starts being able to destroy Strike, Attack, and Protect tiles (and getting the AP for those tiles) so it not only generates some Red AP, depletes the enemy's Red combat tiles, and creates cascade opportunities. Finally, at max level that 3x3 grid expands to a 5x5, making the ability do a great job of being able to clear out a mass of enemy tiles. Carnage's Attack tiles become much more manageable with Cyclops around.

Q: All right, give us the insider scoop on how players can get the best out of Cyclops (Classic). Who’s he good against? Who would you pair him with?

A: I'm torn on him, to be honest. Obviously, it'd be easy to say that 5/3/5 is the way to go. Max damage and board control, duh. Compared to max level Yellow, you lose 1 turn on the CD tile base, 1 AP per TU match, and +1 CD turn on TU match. Worth it if you're going the damage route. Although I almost prefer a 5/4/4 in that situation as the extra turn per match at level 4 of Yellow makes that tile way easier to keep out. That being said, I've been messing around a lot with a 5/5/3 build lately, as I said above. Team-Up tiles are often available as matches since usually you're avoiding them which lets them build up. It's pretty easy to hold a few Yellow AP and use Uncanny Strategist strategically when there are a few TU matches ready to amp up color collection. Whether that's Red with Cyclops in the lead or Purple to let Jean Grey get an AoE blast off, it can seriously speed up play for 5 AP. Team-wise, if I'm running him in max damage mode, I'm pairing him with more utility characters like Jean or Professor X. Hulkbuster can also speed red generation up, which means that you can decide which ability to go with depending on if you have a lot or a little Red AP. Ant-Man is also a great choice here since his utility will make up for 5/5/3 Cyclops's relative inability to handle special tiles at that point. If you're running the TU AP generation build, bringing along a Ms. Marvel Team-Up can speed up the match pretty easily. Grab 5 Yellow AP, 8 TU AP, make a few other matches to maybe grab some bonus Red or whatever, then throw out Strategic Command once TU tiles have fallen in. 9 more TU tiles means almost inevitable cascades, which means bonus primary AP (and match damage). Once you're used to the flow, it's pretty easy to parley that combo into 1/2 dead opponents and a little clean up time. Definitely looking forward to what players come up with though!

Thanks, Joe!

IceIX edit: Check out his specific stats here.