Last weeks article covered one of the most under utilized Cabal characters in MCP in Crossbones. Hopefully I convinced some people to throw Crossbones on the table, and I hope he surprises you with how survivable he can be! This week I am covering a much more popular character that is seen mainly in the Brotherhood affiliation, but this character also has a home in Cabal. Mystique is a Cabal affiliated character and she brings some seriously powerful abilities to any Cabal roster.
Right off the bat, Mystique provides a Cabal roster with a Long moving character with Stealth in a 3 Threat package. As many Cabal players know from their time using Baron Zemo, a Long moving character opens up so many options on the table when playing the Crisis. Paired with her Stealth ability, Mystique’s Long movement is perfect for getting around the table without the risk of being attacked by enemy characters who she can keep outside of Range 3.
Mystique’s own builder attack is something your opponent won’t be able to ignore either. Four dice at Range 3 may not seem like a ton, but don’t forget about that Rapid Fire triggered on a Hit. This means the majority of the time Mystique is throwing 8 dice in a single attack! With Red Skull’s leadership she is getting power each time she damages an enemy character, and this attack let’s Mystique benefit from this Leadership on both the original attack and the Rapid Fire! Some activations Mystique is just going to be throwing 16 dice at Range 3. Seems ok to me.
If Mystique were just a Long moving 3 Threat many Cabal players wouldn’t get super excited about putting her on the table, but she also brings along one of the best control cards in the entire game. Deception allows Mystique to target an enemy character within Range 4, as long as there are no other enemy characters within Range 2, and move them their Speed toward her. Plenty of other Superpowers, or Tactics Cards, exist in the game that move enemy models, but Deception beats them all. First, Indomitable does exactly nothing against Deception. Mystique is making the enemy character advance. This isn’t a throw or a push. With the popularity of Indomitable on the rise Deception can be an extremely useful work around.
Another benefit of Deception is it uses the enemy character’s own movement speed against them. If that enemy character moves Long they are moving Long all the way into your entire Cabal team. There aren’t many characters in MCP who want to end up, already activated, in front of MODOK, Baron Zemo, and Red Skull.
This card is extremely good on any Crisis where your opponent has an incentive to hold the middle of the board. A good opening play for the Cabal player would be to use Red Skull’s ability to place Mystique in Range 2 toward the center of the board with the first activation. This will allow Mystique to sit within Range 4 of the middle Secure, or Extract, while still keeping relatively safe thanks to her Stealth ability. Next, just wait for your opponent to move their first character toward the middle, and then Mystique can use her Deception to pull the enemy character into a very bad position. Sitting right next to the rest of your Cabal characters. If your opponent is less than thrilled to throw a character into the middle for Mystique to Deception this can give the Cabal the upper hand in making a play on the center Secure/Extract.
Mystique is still extremely useful after her Deception play is made. Other than her awesome builder attack she has the Expert Sabotage superpower. Getting 3 power on this character in a Red Skull Cabal list is going to be trivial, and being able to reliably do 2 damage to all enemy characters surrounding a piece of terrain can push through some unexpected extra damage.
With defensive stats of 3 across the board Mystique may seem like an easy target for enemies who get within her Stealth range, but her Martial Artist ability can really extend her life and boost her durability. Her Shapshifter ability is also extremely useful on the defense in making your opponent make suboptimal choices for their characters activation.
While not as obviously useful like Baron Zemo, Mystique brings an incredible character card, and tactics card, to any Cabal Roster. If a Cabal player can keep her out of harms way, use her Deception card to devastating effect, and ensure she gets as many Rapid Fire shots as possible (maybe by using that Baron Zemo re-roll or Dark Reign!) she will not disappoint!