Cyclops - Blue Team Sneak Attack

"That's why I am a leader. The blind leading the blind, maybe... but a leader nonetheless. A leader because I'm prepared to take the fall, and because I'm prepared to make the hard decisions. Such as the one you made, Mom, that day you pushed Alex and I out into the sky with a single parachute between us. Because a leader knows, it's not so hard to die for your people. It's hard to order your people to die for you. And leading with certainty into an uncertain future doesn't require sight. It requires vision. It requires holding on. And no matter what happens, never letting go." -- X-Men: Prelude to Schism #3

Cyclops - Blue Team Sneak Attack

Welcome to my early version of a Cyclops Sneak Attack build!

With Cyclops able to include X-Men allies regardless of aspect, an ally-heavy deck plays to that strength. However, a couple of the early X-Men allies are moderate to high cost cards, which can make them difficult to get on the board consistently. Sneak Attack provides a way of getting them in play for minimal cost, allowing you to get the most out of your supporting X-cast.

To Me, My X-Men!

• My goal was to accumulate X-Men characters who provide additional benefits when they enter play. Beast, Blindfold, Polaris, and Professor X all get the job done (technically Phoenix does too but we have to include her regardless).
• Maria Hill has a great enter-play ability that combos well with Field Commander in multiplayer games, so she’s in even though she’s not an X-Men member. Consider her the X-Men's liason to SHIELD.
• Despite not having an enter-play ability, I included Angel as a cheaper cost X-Men character who is a solid attacker or could chump block as needed.
• Wolverine is where the build shines as a normally high cost hard-hitting attacker whom you can get into play more efficiently thanks to this strategy.

The X-Strategy

• The Leadership event Sneak Attack gets your allies into play in a more cost-efficient manner. This is especially helpful for characters like Wolverine and Beast, who otherwise may require your entire hand to get into the fight.
• Once you've assembled your X-Men and they've taken the fight to the villain, Command Team allows you to ready them for another activation. Think of it as Cyclops calling out orders on the battlefield and the X-Men responding with practiced maneuvers from extensive time in the Danger Room.
• As Cyclops pushes the X-Men to the limit, Rapid Response can bring an ally defeated from consequential damage back onto the battlefield, activating its enter-play ability again in the process.
• For high cost allies like Wolverine and Beast, a well timed Go Down Swinging may be better than a final activation, as you'll do damage equal to the character's printed cost.
• For times when you need an ally that's already in the discard pile or you didn't draw into a good Sneak Attack hand, Make the Call gets an inclusion to give you an option to summon an ally from the discard pile.
• It's also worth pointing out that Rapid Response is a Tactic Upgrade, so it's retrievable using the Scott Summers alter-ego ability if needed. Furthermore, Sneak Attack and Go Down Swinging both have the Tactics trait, which allows them to be retrieved from the discard pile when Cyclops uses Tactical Brillance.

It's All About The Optics

• While this build is very much ally-focused, don't forget that Cyclops has a number of things he can do to lead this team. Reducing the cost to get allies in play through the use of Sneak Attack means you'll have more cards and resources left over for buffing, debuffing, and shooting concussive eye beams.
• Throwing Exploit Weakness onto an enemy when you've got a field full of X-Men ready to go only makes their attacks more potent.
• If you're staring down a battlefield of minions, use Priority Target and your team of X-Men to take the minion down quickly and draw more cards which you could conceivably turn into more allies on the board or more damage to your enemies.
• If you want to lead by example, Full Blast is an incredible low cost attack that showcases Cyclops's optic power, especially when powered by his Ruby Quartz Visor to give his optic blasts ranged and piercing. This is a great way to get rid of that pesky Tough status card on an enemy so your teammates can go to work.

Other Considerations

• I debated on The Power of Leadership, but it gets included for now as it can help you pay the full cost of Beast, Maria Hill, Command Team, and Rapid Response if needed.
• The X-Jet is going to be a staple of many X-Men decks much as Quincarrier has been for the Avengers. That extra resource could be the fuel you need for a Sneak Attack or the Tactic Upgrade you need to place on the villain.
• Utopia is a nice inclusion here, not only because of the increased ally limit, but moreso because it allows you to ready an X-Men character when an X-Men ally comes into play. You're not only getting more enter-play abilities, but you're getting another activation out of an X-Men character without having to exhaust and drop a counter from Command Team.

Conclusion

Cyclops is my favorite comic character, and I was thrilled to see that he would not only be coming to Marvel Champions but also had a very unique and thematic kit with lots of potential. I'm excited to try a variety of deck build with him, but to me, he always will be the leader of the X-Men, so trying out ways to make him shine in that aspect was a fun priority. I hope I've come up with something that plays both efficiently but also thematically for the character, and would appreciate any constructive feedback, suggestions, or corrections on things I may have missed or goofed on.