No. 1

—tie—

Mysterio [ASM 026 and 206]

Multiple Man [WXM 013 and 205]

WHY I WANTED THEM IN THE FIRST PLACE: Well, both are longtime favorite characters of mine. I became a Madrox fan back in Peter David’s first X-Factor run and even more so with the character’s solo mini that led into the long-running second X-Factor series. In fact, I’m NOT picking up the new X-Factor mainly because there’s no Madrox.

And Mysterio was the villain in my first comic book.

But longtime readers know this already, because earlier clix of the characters made the 2010 and 2011 Top Faves list in those respective years. So it was a shoo-in that I’d try to get many of each. But…

I WANT TO RUN THEM EVERY WEEK BECAUSE: They are designed to be run in multiples. In Mysterio’s case, the pieces make it possible to actually play a dozen Mysterio 026 figs in a 300-point game.

That’s a lottttt of 10 AV Incap, thanks to Sinister Syndicate TA.

Being only illusions, though, the bubbleheads do need a little help to do more than just surrender 15 points per KO. So the 62-point Unique  from the gravity feed is a co-favorite for its ability to use Perplex to help a pal’s stats or to nerf an opponent’s. Best of all, this fun team just offers all kinds of opportunities for friendly trash talk, Mysterio-style.

Multiple Man 013 plays similarly, though with more aggressive ability. He’s also got an almost foolproof mechanic for immediately bringing as many as FIVE duplicates into the game, much improved over the old GSX Madrox’s only 33% chance of getting just one out there. Better still, Multiple Man 205 bears a trait and SP that both work with all the  older Madroxi/Multiple Men.

I DON’T PLAY THEM EACH WEEK BECAUSE: They kinda suck.

Let me explain.

Sure the Mysterios can be run by the dozen in a 300-point game. But with

• no moving attack powers
• no Willpower
• only 6 Speed and range
• a thin, thin defense of 16 Super Senses
• no taxis

and worst, only three actions to work with to use all these Mysterios, I just can’t play this team with any degree of real effectiveness.

But I’m less enamored of devoting the 100 points to play the three #026 Mysterios — the bare minimum one really ought to field — on a mixed team.

As for the Multiple Men, they lack the X-Men keyword and so are cut off a bit from the other mutant-type characters. X-Factor is a lot more limited if one likes comic-accurate squads like I do. I also want to play at least three of the 013 version, but I’m not sure that’s a great use of 125 points. The 54-point version never seems to fit on teams in the kind of numbers I’d like.

They also have the problems of the Mysterio crowd, what with having too many figs for the action total and no Willpower, taxis, Charge or anything to get enough of them mobilized to make a fight of it. At least they’ve got a little Leadership to help on both versions and the ability to possibly generate more help once in the fight.

I’LL FIELD THEM NEXT: Mysterio is a lock on any and all Sinister Syndicate teams I’ll ever play. I still want to run an effective dozen Mysterios, but I’ll need to mix and match with copies of the older Ultimates and Web of Spider-Man versions. This is also a figure that I have zero qualms about running with Resources, as Mysterio’s whole M.O. in the comics is basically him being a Resource or building them in service to his illusions. So whenever I want to test out a Resource, I’ll put it on a Mysterio or two.

Or twelve.

Multiple Man awaits that huge X-Factor Reunion team I’ve got planned, if I can only muster up the guts to field the relatively underpowered crew in the the 2000-point build it’ll require. (I’m not kidding … do the math yourself.) And one day I’ll again run every single Madrox/Multiple Man I can muster.