If I had known this was coming I wouldn’t have given both Threaten and Tommy Gun to Doc Ock! I guess he can get Media Cover and Morale Boost.
I guess this can be a placeholder while I think of something meaningful to contribute. Although now that I’m thinking about Media Cover, being able to generate TU tiles would at least give him some synergy with Cyke.
Edit: Here’s my take,
Currently, Beast has some problems.
One of those is the fact that 2 of his abilities really need to make use of the 3rd ability before they are even worth using. It’s a recursion of the Spider-Man problem - Web Bandages definitely needs you to have created multiple web tiles before you use it; Spider-Senses will still actually get by without webs, but it’s considerably better with them. Beast’s “move reliance” is compounded by the fact that Mutagenic Breakthrough is just not that great.
I like the idea of Beast as a “support brawler”, so I wanted to try and stick to that. I also realised that making him generate Team Up tiles is actually kind of thematic because he’s been in a bunch of team. Beast has also undergone a number of secondary or additional mutations. That’s certainly a core part of his character, so I wanted to try and explore that.
Max health increased to 7650.
Research & Development (Active-Passive Blue, 6 AP)
Passive: At the start of each turn, Beast places a trap on a random tile.
Active: Select a trap. The experiment resolves, as follows:
Yellow: Converts the tile into a friendly Protect tile.
Red: Converts the tile into a friendly Strike tile.
Blue: Stuns the target enemy for 1 turn.
Green: Deals X damage to the target enemy.
Black: Converts the tile into a friendly attack tile.
Purple: Steals 3 AP of the enemy’s strongest colour.
Team Up: Grants a burst of health to the team.
Rank 1: Traps appear on Yellow, Green, and Team Up tiles only.
Rank 2: Traps can also appear on Red and Black tiles.
Rank 3: Traps can also appear on Blue and Purple tiles.
Rank 4: Increased special tile strength.
Rank 5: Create an additional trap each turn.
Yes, this ability is ridiculously wordy, and would never make it into the game in its current form. I think you could maybe cut it down to only 3 different effects and group the colours like the boosts (red yellow = effect 1, blue purple = effect 2, green black = effect 3). Still, this was the original idea and that’s what I wanted to present since I think it really shows off Beast as a genius. He’s running multiple experiments all the time, then when he needs to, he can resolve one that he chooses to get the effect that he wants at that time. Special tile strengths would need to be about average since it’s only 6AP to activate, however traps are placed at random, so you might be holding on to AP until you get a trap on the colour you want.
Leader of the Pack (Active Green, 9 AP)
Beast lashes out, striking his opponent and leaving an opening for his team mates. Deals X damage. Converts Y basic tiles to Team Up tiles.
I think this could probably mirror Thunderstrike, with slightly reduced numbers. Rank 5 would be ~2k damage (single target) and create 5 Team Up tiles.
Beast has been a member of just about every X-group and the Avengers, so team ups for everyone! This gives him synergy with Cyclops and Storm. And Magneto, even though 3* Mags is a villain.
The Next Mutation (Passive Yellow)
After being wounded, Beast experiences an involuntary secondary mutation. His animal instincts are sharpened, but his mind is dulled.
Rank 1: If Beast drops below 25% health; when he attacks by making a match he also deals X additional damage, his other abilities increase cost by 2 AP, he regenerates Y health at the start of each turn.
Rank 2: Mutation occurs if below 40% health.
Rank 3: Mutation occurs if below 55% health.
Rank 4: Other abilities are only increased by 1 AP, increased regeneration.
Rank 5: Mutation occurs if below 75% health.
This was a bit tricky. Beast has mutated a number of times, sometimes through his own experimentation and sometimes through other external influences. In some cases he’s become very bestial/animal after mutation, the increase in strength/agility is accompanied by a decrease in his cognitive abilities.
This is a bit of a blend of existing passives. Like 2* Wolverine, the health serves as a kind of switch; he drops below the threshold, the passive takes effect, but once he heals above that threshold, he no longer has those effects. If you let him sit at the back for a while, he’ll heal back up past the threshold. There’s also the double dip on damage like OBW; I wanted to give him increased strength without using a Strike tile which the rest of his team could also use. He also gets a “penalty” to using his other abilities at this time. I think this creates an interesting choice between ranks 3, 4 and 5 - the lower rank means it’s longer before the Mutation takes over, so “cheaper” abilities for longer, but with less additional damage. At the higher ranks the 1 AP penalty is still enough to push his abilities into the next number of required match-3’s (eg. 6 AP is 2 match 3’s, 7 AP is either an extra turn or a lucky match 4+).
I’ve kept his abilities with the same colours and same order as he currently has. I think The Next Mutation is definitely Yellow, however Leader of the Pack could also be Red, and Research & Development is probably more of a cunning Purple ability. I’m not too good at coming up with numbers in terms of special tile strength or ability damage, but I think the abilities are just about costed right. With original ability colours, well, maybe he still wouldn’t get a run, since Leader of the Pack isn’t better than X-Force so why ever use it, right? If it was Red, he loses synergy with Cyclops a little. I guess you can’t win them all.
