So, with the recent announcement that Big in Japan’s release has been pushed back a month because of production delays, you would think that I would be frowny down in the dumps, right? We haven’t had a new release since the beginning of October; the wait is killing us all, right?

Well, not really.

See, in order to sweeten the taste of defeat a little bit, Privateer Press also announced at the time of the delay that the one month void would be filled by the release of two previously unreleased tournament promos; Mega Aquosia and Mega Mucustos. A few of these guys had been handed out here and there at the Monsterpocapalooza events, but up until the announcement there was no reliable way to get your hands on one. In my opinion, having these Megas enter the tournament prize structure, rather than as late box-top promotions like we had feared (Mega Yasheth, the last late promo, goes for around $50 resale. He’s a little hard to get.), is well worth waiting another month for the new expansion.

Today, I’d like to discuss Mega Mucustos. Since he’s been super rare up until this point, the number of people who have a good understanding of how he works is very very low. Before we get into that, though, we should probably familiarize ourselves with the Mucustos we already know a bit more.

Alpha Mucustos


Stats:

• Speed 5
• Defense 6
• Brawl 6*2
• Blast 7*3 [Long]
• Power 5*1
• Health 7

• Summon
• Crunch [Blast]
• Energy Sap [Blast]
• Burrow

Mucustos debatably has one of the best Alpha forms in the game. These are the types of abilities and stats that one would normally expect of a Hyper form. Average defense, high health, the ability to spawn a screen on the fly (get it?), and a powerful, long range blast that even can go Super Damage relatively easy make Alpha Mucustos a walking fortress. In addition to all this, he’s also the radioactive energy type, which provides its monsters benefits that no other energy type can really give. His only real downsides are low speed (the lowest among Monsters) and his middling power stat. With an Alpha like this, it’s almost as if you really don’t need an Ultra, which is good because…

Ultra Mucustos


Stats:

• Speed 5
• Defense 6
• Brawl 7*2
• Blast 8*4 [Short]
• Power 6*2
• Health 6
• Hyper Cost: 4

• Extinguish
• Crunch [Blast]
• Energy Sap [Blast]
• Burrow
• Radar [Blue]

…you don’t really get one. Mucustos’ Ultra form is more than a bit of a disappointment after seeing the Alpha. His increase in stats is marginal at best, with an additional boost on Blast and Power being the only really useful additions. He loses the Summon action, a fantastic tool, for the much less useful Extinguish. Blue Radar looks like a good unit buff at first, until you realize that as a Destroyer, Mucustos’ options for blasting options are limited and frequently sub-par. The only ones worth playing are Cliff Hoppers and possibly a Scorcher or two; which is not enough to base a force around. Radar also comes with a drawback; while Alpha Mucustos could boost his range to seven by securing a Radar Array, Ultra Mucustos can’t utilize that benefit and is stuck at a fixed range of 5. Beyond that, Ultra is almost exactly the same as his Alpha; not something I want to pay 4 dice to hyper up for. This doesn’t mean that Ultra Mucustos is a bad monster combination; he still has solid stats, super damage at long range, and a hefty butt. Just be aware that the brunt of the responsibility of winning rides on the Alpha when running this form.

In short, the Alpha/Ultra Mucustos combination we’ve had to play up until this point has been a generally solid monster, but also one that lacks the little extra oomph to make it truly competitive. If only his hyper form could offer us a little something extra…

Enter Mega Mucustos.

Mega Mucustos


Stats:
• Speed 5
• Defense 6
• Brawl 6*2
• Blast 6*4 [Short]
• Power 7*3
• Health 5
• Hyper Cost: 3

• Summon
• Grind [Blast]
• Power Strike [Blast]
• Burrow


So, what makes the Mega special? It doesn’t have the high Health stat indicative of the other Mucustos forms, and like the Ultra, it does nothing to bolster the Alpha’s defense or speed. It can only shoot at short range, and it loses its signature Crunch [Blast]. All of this sounds like a whole lot of downsides, doesn’t it?

Mega Mucustos’ destructive output is truly obnoxious. Unlike the Ultra, it keeps Alpha Mucustos’ Summon action, which means that it can bring out a Hazardous Razor Beetle and, using that good power attack stat (another way it differs from the others), give a quick Body Slam for two damage. Right off the bat, the Mega has an easy outlet for multiple damage in a single attack, but that isn’t even the Mega’s main schtick. The combination of Grind and Power Strike is what makes the Mega a real threat. Since these abilities don’t show up very often (Mega Mucus is one of only two Monsters with Grind), here’s what they do:

Grind: Move 2 A-Dice from the dice in play to your inactive pool. Then move 2 B-Dice and 2 P-Dice from the dice in play to your dice well. If the dice in play include at least 1 remaining A-Die, roll another attack of the same type against the same target monster with the remaining dice in play.

Power Strike: Target monster’s controller loses a number of P-Dice equal to the number of super strikes you rolled in the attack.

Together, not only can Mucustos launch a 3 damage blast, but that blast will also very likely drain several power dice from the opponent’s pool; a small price to pay from dropping down to short range.

As you can probably tell, I greatly prefer the Mega’s abilities to the Ultra’s. The drawbacks of fielding the Mega are more than mitigated by his highly increased potential. If Mega Mucustos is something that you might be interested in, he’s available as the prize for Event Kit #32. Check around for a store that runs tournaments!

You could also probably get one off eBay, but isn’t the point of a game to actually play it?

One last bit before signing off that I wanted to share with you is my own Mucustos list. Up until now I’ve been using it with the Ultra, but I don’t see anything I would change when switching to the other Hyper form. Once Big In Japan is released, I’ll definitely be making some tweaks, but as it stands the following has worked rather well for me.




I know there are some obvious tweaks to be made, especially to the city (I’m sure having only two nuke plants is making all of you clutch your sides in pain), but we’re all on a budget. You can discuss Mucustos, your thoughts on the delay, or just about anything else you can think of commenting on in the forum, or you can swing an email at tekkactus@gmail.com. I’ll be sure to read it. Come back for another article next week, when I get back into Big in Japan previews with a handful of units, including one I think up will catch a lot of people by surprise.

Until, may your giant beetles always ooze snot.

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