The Top Ten list is done. So is the slog through the 10 WORST. Now it’s time to close out the look back with our favorites!

 

Typically, I intro this annual feature with a look back at a figure that came out too late in the previous year to play much that later emerged as a favorite. But there was nothing that fit the bill from the November and December sets that didn’t make the 2013 Faves list proper.

So I looked back further. And not one, but three lady figs emerged as clear late-blooming favorites in 2014:

Mirage [Wolverine and the X-Men 004], Magik [Wolverine and the X-Men 034]  and Magma [Wolverine and the X-Men 073]

When I run the New Mutants, these three have to be on the team or I don’t play the theme at all. Each is F.U.N. to the max:

FRIENDLY — None are very mean (though Magik’s Mystics TA and Magma’s superPoison both push that threshold a bit)

USEFUL — Both Mirage and Magma make good use of Sidestep. And ultra-taxi/attacker Magik definitely maxes out this portion of the acrostic

NIFTY — Mirage fits my Archery and Valkyrie theme teams, Magik is my favorite of the New Mutants characters, and Magma is just neat to play.

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It’s not the last time in 2014 that a crowd made enough of an impression to make what’s called the “Top Ten” but will actually contain a good deal more with ties and whatnot. Hang out the rest of the week to see how things shook out!