Cable and His Amazing Technocolor Dreamcoat

Cable and his Technocolor Dreamcoat

Let me take you through a little bit of cinema history. Movies used to be produced on film, with no sound and with no color: black and white and silent! Over time, various colorizing processes were developed and none more famous than Technicolor! Technicolor went through 4 different processes: starting with two-color technicolor with a red filter and a green filter exposed on a single strip of film, and ending up at three-strip technicolor that could offer a full spectrum of color exposed on three strips of film

How is this relevant you may ask? Well, playing Cable is sort of like witnessing the advance of technology over time. He starts off as a silent, black and white film, and he ends up with a full spectrum of color in the victory display!

Comparison of Technicolor's process 1 and process 4

Basic Cable Package

To understand Cable, you have to understand that he wants to be defeating schemes, and it has to be him that defeats the scheme, so that he can activate his once per phase ready. Luckily, he is allowed to include the full rainbow of Player Side Schemes in his deck. PSS are a new card type in NeXt Evolution, that act exactly like regular side schemes, except they are played by the players and they give a beneficial effect when defeated.

This deck is all about defeating them, adding them to the victory display, and powering through the endgame.

Cast and Crew

Leadership is all about the allies and Justice is all about the schemes right? This deck mixes the two together to produce a deck in living color.

• Deadpool, Deathlok, and Fantomex are value allies. Effectively all 2/2/3 (if you include EVA) but with slightly different uses. Deadpool is our color commentator. His effective infinite health for activations, at the expense of an acceleration each respawn, means he can survive the entire game and is an excellent Voltron target while keeping Frenemies on line. Deathlok immediately grabs an attachment to boost his stats or versatility. Fantomex has good sustainability with the heal option from EVA. Sunspot is an excellent minion answer for a hero that can struggle with dealing with them and also gets around guard/retaliate, just make sure to play him from hand!

• For boosts, we have Inspired, Sidearm, and Reinforced Suit. Inspired is great to give Deadpool/Deathlok a 3/3 statline, while Sidearm relegates one to minion duty while also avoiding the plethora of retaliate in NeXt Evolution that can be a burden to allies. Reinforced Suit keeps the allies around for longer while we film different takes. Experiment with the ratios for yourself, but I've found Reinforced Suit is best at two to give some extra ally uses, such as postponing Deadpool's Forced Response, and for its . Inspired is another contender for 2 slots, to guarantee mulliganning it early before seeing Deathlok or Call for Backup, but I've found that 2 Reinforced Suits and 1 Inspired give good enough odds for a a strong early Deathlok.

• Uncanny X-Force gives each ally +1 THW and prevents 1 consequential when thwarting side schemes if all of your characters have the X-Force trait (note the +1 THW works against the main scheme as well, just not the consequential damage prevention). This means we can get Deadpool or Deathlok up to a 4 THW/4 ATK/5 HP ally that can thwart side schemes for free. Fantomex becomes a much more valuable heal target and Sunspot gains a much more flexible statline. Cable flipping to alter-ego does shut this off, as he does not have the X-Force Trait in alter-ego, so activate those allies beforehand!

Production

Cable can have a weak early game, but once his economy is in place and he has side schemes in the victory display, he's off!

• Now you know what trait Cable does have in alter-ego? Soldier. Both sides of his identity card he is fighting against the lack of color in the world, on the front lines against beige! Soldier trait gets its first ever support in the form of Mission Leader, a 2-cost upgrade that reduces to 1-cost if you have the soldier trait. As a hero response it draws every player a card when a side scheme is defeated, and this can be triggered no matter who clears the side scheme (allies or other players included) as long as Cable is in hero form! In multiplayer, it can be critical to make sure that Cable isn’t flipped down as the last player, since Mission Leader won’t trigger until his turn, and the cards it draws everyone will likely be dead by then.

• Team-Building Exercise works great for getting the cast onto location, and even extends to Psionic cards once Cable gains the trait through Technovirus Purge! This is a great pick for Build Support if Graymalkin and Uncanny X-Force were obtained early. There is a unique play here, using Team-Building Exercise to play Sunspot out of turn and dealing 1-2 damage to an entire side of the board out of turn! Unfortunately, reducing his cost reduces his output, but if the need arises it is a nice trick to have in your playbill.

• Now I’m not saying we cheap out on our special effects budget, but Deft Focus helps get our superpower cards in play without overdoing the CGI. The advantage over X-Gene is not needing to be played in a specific form and extending to Forced Amnesia and Telekinetic Force Field in addition to Mind Scan and Telekinetic Blast.

• Professor is a good cheap alter-ego support. Draw a card or grab any PSS we want, no complaints here. If you need to dig for a card, take the card, if you need a resource grab a PSS from your discard. Now where it gets most useful is if you look at your hand and see you can clear a PSS in play, grab one with Professor and then cue that one up to be cleared either in the villain phase or the next hero phase. If you know you won’t be able to play whatever the card might be, grab Technovirus Purge as a free drop when you aren’t at your PSS limit!

• Graymalkin is where things get really unhinged. Any time a side scheme is defeated (by anyone!) it readies. You exhaust it for an energy resource, and this can be in either form! Most turns you get 1-2 uses out of it: use it->clear a scheme->use it again. Some turns you’ll knock down side schemes like dominos and it generates Scrooge McDuck money. This is a card you want to see early no doubt about it, it helps you play everything from allies to player side schemes to filling the resource requirement on cards like Sunspot, Plasma Rifle, and Askani'son. The perfect thing about this deck is that for a lot of the cards we want to be playing, a single resource is all we need! Mission Leader, ally upgrades, PSS, Askani'son, Professor, and Forced Amnesia are all easy drops off Graymalkin. It can even combine with Deft Focus to play Mind Scan to clear a side scheme and immediately ready. Just be sure to spend it and use a basic power before defeating any side scheme!

With our inherent ready, an extra resource off Graymalkin, a card draw off Mission Leader, and whatever beneficial effect we get from the PSS we are off to the races! Who said cinema is dead?

Maybe you associate Technicolor with Looney Tunes

Writing Room

The script of this whole plot is written by our PSS. There is a veritable decision Tree of Life that goes into deciding what PSS to start in play with Nathan Summers’ setup ability. First, we should mention that the setup is after we draw and mulligan. So if you end up with a PSS in hand, that one is unavailable for the setup ability. With that out of the way, here is a little guide. This is mostly for solo, as multiplayer will greatly appreciate Build Support, and benefits from the Cable player going last, so the rest of the team can soften it up for him and ideally he can clear it and play another PSS to set up for the next round.

• Call for Backup: This is great if you don’t see an ally in your opening hand/mulligan, and especially if you saw an ally upgrade hit the discard. A turn 1 Call for Backup->Deathlok->Inspired/Reinforced Suit is very strong. Getting a 3 THW ally out means an instant clear of TVP with Teamwork down the line. If Frenemies is in hand and there are multiple schemes in play, such as scenarios that start with side schemes, pulling Deadpool is very strong. That’s 10 thwart hitting the table (2 from Deadpool, 2 from Cable after he readies, and 3x2 from Frenemies). Fantomex is a great stabilization option, useful when hitting two targets is most needed and thinning the deck of two cards instead of one is a subtle bonus. Not needing a Reinforced Suit or adding acceleration tokens to the main scheme makes him a great long-term option.

• Build Support: This is usually the best multiplayer option. In solo, it is a great first pick to get an early Graymalkin that can really help get the rest of the setup rolling. If Graymalkin is in the opening hand, starting with another side scheme is more viable.

• Establish Perimeter: This is best if no allies or thwart events were drawn or in high damage scenarios. Being 2pp starting threat is highly relevant, since Cable only needs a single basic thwart to clear it and get the ready. Starting with Graymalkin/Mission Leader and no other ways to thwart make me grab this more often than you would think. The tough status is handy to buy a turn of setup when you didn’t draw an ally.

• Lock and Load: Pretty much never the turn 1 pull. There’s a world where you pull it and immediately turn Plasma Rifle on…if you have the . An early rifle is not as valuable as an early ally or support or tough however.

• Technovirus Purge: I bet you thought after the Technicolor spiel that the deck title is a typo. Well it’s not. It’s a very clever play on words. Thank you for the acknowledgment.

Ahem…

Teamwork Makes the Dreamcoat Work

TVP is a good turn 1 pull in some circumstances. However it is mandatory that if you go for it early, you have Mind Scan in hand, because otherwise it is unclearable. It gets Cable and Nathan Summers the Psionic trait, and gives Cable +1 to all stats. Very helpful for clearing future schemes and defending for the likes of Askani'son, but not helpful for securing some early build. In addition, you just may lose TVP's bonuses to Cable’s obligation (even more likely for multiplayer). TVP’s 0-cost makes it easier to play at a later time, rather than the 1-costs on all the others, meaning that starting with something else saves a resource somewhere during the game. TVP is a great second PSS, and ideally our obligation will put it into play for free!

There is one veeeery big catch to TVP however, and that is that characters other than Cable cannot remove threat from it. This prevents allies and other heroes from assisting, including any Overwatches that might be trying to duplicate threat removal onto it. However, our legal team has found some loopholes. First, supports are not characters so EVA can remove threat from TVP. Second, Cable can steal lines from his co-stars with Teamwork! Exhausting an ally, Cable can add their stats to his in order to clear TVP and other schemes in a single go! An ally with Inspired or boosted by Uncanny X-Force is 5 combined THW, perfect range for TVP. In multiplayer, this is great to clear larger schemes (a 4 THW ally and a 3 THW Cable can clear up to 7 threat schemes together). As just an ally “heal” it is alright, saving Deathlok’s limited hp, giving Fantomex a turn to heal, preventing Deadpool’s Forced Response. But the extra versatility to help Cable clear TVP and get his ready is the real reason to run it over other ally heals. The best feeling is clearing TVP using Teamwork, gaining the Psionic trait, and then using Psychic Kicker to double dip with that same ally!

We can always ensure that Teamwork is on by starting with Call for Backup. An excellent start might look like: hand of Mind Scan, TVP, Teamwork w/Inspired in the discard. Start with Call for Backup and clear it with Mind Scan+Cable, grab Deathlok and get Inspired, play and then use Teamwork to clear TVP.

Fantomex might seemingly not make for a great Teamwork target, but exhausting him for Teamwork leaves EVA free to do other things than heal him! EVA can keep rolling even if Fantomex is left out of the script (though if he ever leaves play, it needs to exit stage left as well!.

Choreography

How does Cable keep his colleagues happy? He does his own stunts!

• Askani'son + Graymalkin allow him to defend, thwart a side scheme, and still ready when he defeats it in the villain phase! This will ready Cable and Graymalkin for the hero phase later, draw a card with Mission Leader, and potentially avoid any hazard icons on the defeated scheme! Best after TVP of course, so he can defend for 3 and thwart for 3, but defending for 2 and thwarting for 2 is still valuable if you can set up a side scheme you couldn’t defeat in the hero phase to be cleared in the villain phase. If you have an in-hand Mind Scan, teeing up a scheme in the villain phase using Askani'son, even if you can’t ready, is completely viable! Just clear it in the hero phase with Mind Scan.

• Cable is stuntin’ through timelines with his Temporal Leap! This card is a bit tricky to get value out of as being a hero interrupt means it doesn’t help counter a solo Advance unless you are in hero form, and if the main scheme goes in step 1, the encounter card could still undo all of the progress you made with Temporal Leap. Where it is handy is in multi-scheme scenarios (thanks to Spidermana for pointing this out) and multiplayer. Getting a PSS back from the Victory display can be huge, to get a second use out of Call for Backup or Build Support. You don’t even have to clear it right away, if it comes back in with too much threat to clear, overwrite it by playing another PSS (overriding the PSS limit), discard it, and get it back with Professor!

Lights, Camera, Action, Guns

Cable has 10 singletons in his signature kit which may be the most of any hero(?), which leads to some really random hands. We’ll cover them here

• Plasma Rifle is excellent in the end game or as a Stryfe counter, depending on when he comes out in the game. We have Graymalkin and plenty of in deck as ammo here

• Precognition and Bodyslide can set up safe flips to alter-ego, either to heal after readying off a side scheme, or for some extra economy with Professor. Bodyslide becomes very strong in multiplayer, especially with heroes that have strong reasons to be in alter-ego. It doesn’t cost the once per round flip, so flip to alter-ego, bring the whole team with you, get all of the AE benefits and then still have the flip to hero to prevent scheming. Or flip to hero bring everyone with you, and after triggering all of their hero side abilities, anyone can still flip down. In solo, once Professor is out, this can just cycle a card out of hand or draw into a specific PSS when needed.

• Cable sometimes forgets his lines with Forced Amnesia. Notably, this can be played even when there isn’t a side scheme in play, just waiting for the right opportunity. If TVP has been cleared, Cable can play this out of turn with Team-Building Exercise! Which is a neat trick when someone is about to clear a nasty side scheme.

• Telekinetic Force Field is excellent to stop an attack every deck cycle. Both this and Forced Amnesia are pretty cheap drops off Team-Building Exercise/Deft Focus and if another teammate is running Superpower Training, this is my go-to pull.

Outcast Looney Tunes

But what about all of the other toons, where are they?

Wrong brooding silent type and 'toons

• Superpower Training is a very good card, particularly for multiplayer. In this deck, our supports are much more critical. Things like Forced Amnesia are cheap, Temporal Leap is situational, and Plasma Rifle is better pulled off of Lock and Load. Telekinetic Force Field is a great pull, but also played easily with Deft Focus

• Caliban is a bit of an awkward ally, he isn't a good Voltron target like the others and he doesn't solve problems Cable struggles with like Sunspot does. In fact, most of the time the ally he draws will be unplayable due to the cost, so best if it can be spent on something else. But I usually would rather just be playing a different ally in the first place, so he ended up getting the chop

• Psimitar is great, but Rifle is much better. The biggest knock against Psimitar for me is not helping against Stryfe nemesis at all! Once Stryfe is out I need ways to clear him that aren't tied to Psionic events like Telekinetic Blast and Psimitar. He's a huge threat

• Push Ahead and Go All Out were experimented with a bit and are very good. My issue is that Teamwork does what Push Ahead does, easier and cheaper. Being able to guarantee an ally turn 1 makes Teamwork never dead, and the low cost curve is great

• Clarity of Purpose should be considered for every Leadership deck. While it helped for Push Ahead/Go All Out, it undermines Cable's survivability and he will be tanking hits instead of his allies

• Weapon X is in a similar boat as it undermines Cable's health pool. Grabbing his signature cards is not quite as strong as hitting the aspect or basic cards early game either

• Genius and Strength. Surely we need the double resources! Well, not really. Most of the important cards in this deck are 0- or 1-cost, Graymalkin working as a mini-Supernova Helmet or Friction Resistance gives plenty of resources, and most of our expensive cards enter play for free off Player Side Schemes. Energy is kept specifically for Sunspot and our kickers

After decades and decades of development. We've gone from black and white to color videography, movies to televisions, satellite to cable, all to end up at STREAMING! Here is some gameplay of the deck in action so if the script doesn't do it for you, you can watch instead!

Cable Leadership and Domino Protection Gameplay with Man-is-Obsolete!