I’m Bringing Mxy Back (Ya!): My Next ROC Limited Team

by Patrick Yapjoco

When Mr. Mxyzptlk was previewed, it was met with much praise and hype.  For a mere 70pts, you get so much disruption, versatility and support abilities.  Kevin Afrooz initially came up to me said Mxy was ridiculous good, so I immediately went to work on a team built around Mxy.  The weird part is he is only 70pts, so how do you build around such small (pun intended!) figure? That’s the tricky part.  I love swarm teams as much as Jason Collins, but I just can’t seem to get it to work in the 300pt format as of late (usually because of the Tactics and possessions, etc.), but with the new ROC Limited Format, it is once again viable.

With the new vehicle rules being released, there are worlds of possibilities one can do now.  Once Kevin did some researching and confirming, he mentioned that 30pt Ultron Drones with vehicles are the way to go, especially if you get them on their second click.  So, now there were two different things I wanted to try and exploit: the Mxy and the new vehicle rules.  Well, wouldn’t you know, that’s 150pts just for that “combo.”  I was all in on this.

My teammate, Justino Jimenez, and I will be attending a ROC Super Qualifier in the very near future, and I’m here to spill the beans on a team my teammates and I have been working on and testing.  Once you see the list, don’t laugh to hard.  It’s a FUN and still competitive team, believe me.  Here’s the list:

Rick Jones 75
Mr. Myxzptlk 70
Avengers Sky-Cycle 50
Ultron Drone (Age of Ultron) 30
Despotellis 30
Atomica 25
Blind Al 13
Cowgirl 7
(300pts)

Ok, so it looks like a pile, but it can do SO many things that I can’t even begin to explain it all in here, so I will just break down each piece and their purpose, then give a brief overview of how it works.

Mr. Mxy
The main reason why this team is being built.  His “Messing Around With the Odds” trait is amazing, but the real reason are these powers:
ZEROING THE PLAYING FIELD: Mr. Mxyzptlk can use Pulse Wave, but deals no damage when doing so. Instead, give each hit character up to 2 action tokens.

LITTLE IMP FROM THE 5TH DIMENSION: Give Mr. Mxyzptlk a free action and choose a character within 3 squares and line of fire. The chosen character gains “tiny damage symbol”, “normal damage symbol”, “giant damage symbol”, or “colossal damage symbol” instead of its damage symbol until your next turn.

Mxy can essentially “lockdown” your opponents for 3 consecutive turns!  He can Pulse Wave twice, then make himself a Colossal and use Colossal Stamina to do it a third turn… if that isn’t enough to win the game, then I don’t know what is.  With his 9-Range and Running Shot, he should be able to reach most characters.  The best part is that you don’t have to token your own figures caught inside the Pulse Wave.  Since he has Quintessence, he is hard to Outwit and has natural Willpower.

Avengers Sky-Cycle & Ultron Drone & Cowgirl
This is the second reason why I wanted to play this team.  With the new vehicle rules allowing you to take the Attack/Damage/Range values as well as take a standard Attack or Damage power, this is a natural synergy. You get the Drone on the second click somehow (either push or use Blind Al), then jump in and pilot the Sky-Cycle.

Then you essentially get Pulse Wave or Outwit with an 11-Attack/3-Damage stat line for 6 clicks.  Add Running Shot and Sidestep and you have a very mobile and potent attacker.  Add in Cowgirl for Perplex on Attack or Speed and you can really put the hurt on (either 12-Attack or 6-square Running Shot).

Rick Jones
Rick is basically the Swiss-Army knife.  Never mind the fact that he continuously produces bystander attackers for added offensive power, but he has a 10-Range, 11-Attack, 3-Bolts, Perplex, Psychic Blast, TK, Mind Control, and ESD. Whew.  Oh, and that once per game trait can come in handy when they least expect it.

He is there mainly to TK Mxy into battle, then Perplex his attack so he can assure his Pulse Wave shot hits.  He is also a cable secondary attacker if he is the starting area because along with Blind Al, he can do a Penetrating Attack from long range for up to 4-Damage with an 11-Attack.  If he needs to get close so his bystanders are created closer to the action, he can easily move forward into the fray where his Perplex will be of even more use.

Despotellis & Atomica & Blind Al
These figures round out the team mainly for support and tie-up.  Blind Al is there to simply activate Mxy, Rick Jones, and the Ultron Drone quicker (obviously they are better on their second clicks).  She can also Perplex the Sky-Cycle before it goes out for an attack, or Rick Jones, who has a 10-Range. Atomica is there for the quintessential PC, but more importantly, in this format, she is a GREAT tie-up piece since she has Plasticity to go along with a 19-Defense and PC.  Even though the new size rules make her Plasticity less impressive, Mxy can still make her Giant-Sized to lockdown opposing characters.  Despotellis needs no explanation, but it is there to tie-up much like Atomica, but with a higher defense and the added bonus of penetrating Poison and the ability to “latch” onto opposing characters that try and move away.

Strategy and Tricks
I’ve mentioned some of these above, but the main strategy is to use Blind Al to “activate” your three main attackers, then just use Rick Jones to TK Mxy into battle, or to use a Running Shot attack with the Sky-Cycle (piloted by the Drone, of course) for a good chunk of damage (even better if you can get a Pulse Wave attack off).

The Sky-Cycle would be carrying a combination of Despotellis, Atomica, and Cowgirl (any combination of two).  Get into battle lock them up, and then use Despotellis to Poison, followed up by one of Rick Jones’ bystanders.  Since Mxy should be locking them down with his Pulse Wave for at least two turns.  That should be enough to cripple the opposition.  One cool trick you can do is to push the Sky-Cycle for a Pulse Wave attack (or just a heavy damage attack), then use Mxy to make it a Colossal and attack again next turn… and again next turn… until they’re dead.

This is a very fun and complicated team because you have so many pieces you will need to make sure you plan your actions right.  It is definitely fragile as most of these pieces die in 4 clicks or less, but if you can get the lockdown right, it can be very rewarding.

Give this a try and tell me some stories about the games!  Thanks for reading. Remember, when in doubt, Perplex the Attack.