The X-Men have been fighting game mainstays since the first Marvel fighting game, Children of the Atom. Whether it’s ArcSys or Capcom behind the curtain, the X-Men are sure to make an impact, and Magik has finally made her FGC debut. By far one of the coolest X-Men, at least in my opinion, I’ve been learning how to play Magik in Marvel Tokon.
Magik is a super solid all-rounder who shakes up the game with her unique Portal mechanic, which lets her manipulate where she attacks the enemy or how her other abilities function. With these portals, her ability to manipulate hellfire, and her Darkchild Install, Magik is a phenomenal point who can tear through the toughest defense with ease.
Magik’s Kit
Magik, funnily enough, has plenty of Shoto-esque tools that make her a great character to start with. She’s got a projectile, an anti-air, an approaching special, and specialized tools that reward mastery with overwhelming offense.
When you’re learning how to play Magik, you’ll want to focus on understanding the unique interactions and use cases of her Portals, which can be summoned at any point. By pressing the Unique button, Magik will summon a Portal at a set distance. Magik can have two portals active at once.
Holding the button or using specials near the Portal will allow Magik to use it, either for rapid mobility or to alter the angle of her attacks. For example, a fireball that reaches a portal will vanish before firing directly at the enemy from a different angle.
By making careful use of these Portals, Magik can set up disgusting mix-ups by mixing and matching her own attacks, assists, and healthy mobility. Keep the enemy guessing, and they’ll never know exactly where to defend from.
Before you can tear the enemy asunder, you need to understand exactly how her kit works. Let’s go step by step!
Unique Button + Down/Down Forward/Forward- Dark Portal
Magik summons a Portal, either directly in front of her, above the enemy, further ahead, or above them both. By pressing the Unique button again while near a Portal, Magik will enter Limbo before warping towards the opponent. Holding forward appears behind the opponent, holding up appears above them, and holding down appears in front of them.
Pressing Unique while in Limbo will allow Magik to swing immediately after reappearing. Magik’s portals will manipulate her projectile specials when they make contact, while also allowing for warps during her physical specials.
Best Used When: You want to start setting up your offensive, or mix up your ranged game.
Quartercircle Forward + Light/Medium/Heavy – Demon Fire
Magik throws a fireball straight ahead, dealing damage when it reaches the enemy. The Medium and Heavy versions pass through the enemy. If a fireball reaches a portal, the fireball will reappear and attack again. When in Darkchild, Demon Fire is stronger than its Heavy variant and costs no meter.
Best Used When: You’re starting the offense, giving the opponent something to worry about as you approach.
Forward, Down, Down Forward + Light/Medium/Heavy – Rising Soul
Magik rises with her sword, striking any enemy caught in her ascent. This attack can be used once in the air before reaching the ground. Magik can use both the grounded and aerial versions in a single combo. The attack is great both for anti-airing thanks to its invulnerability to air attacks, and for extending combos.
Magik can teleport through Portals either before or after the attack has connected. This allows her to quickly follow up with a Teleport Slash. In Darkchild, Rising Soul flies higher and hits harder.
Best Used When: To counter approaching aerial enemies or to extend/end combos.
Quartercircle Back + Light/Medium/Heavy – Soulsword Slice
Magik performs a slash sequence with her Soulsword while moving forward. The length of the sequence is based on the strength of the button pressed. Either before or after the attack connects, Magik can use Teleport. In Darkchild, the sequence gains a new final hit and deals more damage.
The Light and Heavy versions can Break, launching for Stage Transitions.
Best Used When: You need to fill out a combo or want to catch an enemy while approaching.
Down, Down + Light/Medium/Heavy – Demon Flame
Magik stabs the Soulsword into the ground, summoning a pillar of flame. The Light version appears a few steps away from Magik. The Medium version appears at a further distance away. The Heavy version summons both pillars at once.
If the Demon Flame pillar comes into contact with a Dark Portal, the pillar reappears directly under the opponent.
Best Used When: You want to start applying pressure from a distance, or you can snipe a far-off enemy out of the sky.
Magik’s Assists
Like every character in Marvel Tokon, Magik has three assists, each of which covers a different range. Magik’s aren’t the best, especially when compared to other heavy hitters, further indicating her role as a main point hero.
- Assemble Assist Shooter: In position 2, Magik performs Demon Fire straight ahead.
- Assemble Assist Vertical: In position 3, Magik performs the aerial version of Rising Soul, perfect for meeting airborne threats.
- Assemble Assist Assault: Magik performs a special form of Demon Flame, summoning three pillars of flame at different distances, covering a good chunk of the screen.
- Assemble Assist Aerial: Magik performs the aerial version of Teleport Slash, diving down with a kick and dragging any enemy hit down with her.
Magik has some decent assists, her Aerial and Assault are notably solid, but the sheer power of her point mix-ups and pressure make running her anywhere else feel like putting the cart before the horse.
Magik’s Supers
Magik’s supers utilize the long reach of her Soulsword, while growing even stronger thanks to her Darkchild state. Before she can access her Ultimate, Magik needs to sacrifice her meter to enter Darkchild, giving her a period of time of enhanced effectiveness and damage.
Quartercircle Forward + Medium + Heavy – Super Skill – Soulsword Sacrifice
Magik slashes with her Soulsword, sending enemies flying upwards. She proceeds to juggle said enemy as she warps between various Portals, ending in a final slam. If Magik is near a Portal while activating Soulsword Sacrifice, she can hold the input to warp through the portal, altering her approach.
In the Darkchild state, Magik ends the super with a new follow-up slash, ending Darkchild. Soulsword Sacrifice costs 50 Skill Gauge to activate. The super is automatically used at the end of a Medium auto-combo if Magik has the bar.
Halfcircle Back, Forward + Medium + Heavy – Ultimate Skill – Darkchild
Magik sacrifices all of her Skill Gauge to enter the Darkchild state, requiring a minimum of 100 Skill Gauge. While in Darkchild, all of Magik’s specials hit harder, cost no Skill Gauge, and can be canceled into Teleport even on whiff.
While in Darkchild, Magik can repeat the input to perform Queen of Limbo for free. Queen of Limbo acts like a more standard Ultimate Skill, capturing the enemy after an initial swing for a trip through Magik’s realm. Queen of Limbo immediately ends Darkchild after it goes off.
If a Heavy auto-combo is performed with 100 Skill Gauge, Magik will enter Darkchild only to immediately cast Queen of Limbo right after.
Quartercircle Forward + Light + Assist – Tokon Assemble
Magik makes a wide swing with her Soulsword, launching enemies hit and setting up for a barrage of attacks from her team. While the enemy is dazed, she summons a legion of demons from Limbo to tear the enemy apart, before she finishes them off herself.
This attack deals massive damage, but requires the entire team to be assembled, ready for assist calls, and for Magik to have a maximum of 150 Skill Gauge. If all the conditions are met when a Light auto-combo connects, Magik will perform her Tokon Assemble right after.
How to Play Magik
Magik is a pressure demon, fittingly. When you start learning how to play Magik, you’ll quickly find just how easy it is to force the opponent into situations where they need to start blocking, and those situations can become left/right mix-up situations all too easy.
Magik’s Portals give her an in on the enemy no matter the situation, and with careful timing, can turn any assist into a potential mix with minimal effort. Combine this with her strong projectile game, all of which can easily be used to extend combos, and the ability to cash in bar for a “win-more” state via Darkchild.
Rounds on Magik typically start with using her decent normal range and solid projectiles to apply pressure, leveraging assists to either cover her approach or make her offense via Portals much scarier. For an easy set-up to close the gap, use your Assemble Shooter to provide cover while you spawn a portal. Use the Portal to approach the enemy however you’d like, still covered by the Shooter assist to start your offensive.
Remember that you can only use Rising Soul once in the air until you touch the ground, as the special can easily wallsplat to maximize damage when a combo is petering out. If you can set up a Portal above the opponent before going for Demon Flame, you can double the time they’re forced to hang back as well.
Heavy Demon Flame is also great for holding an enemy still for Assists or Supers, making it a seriously solid combo extender/ender set-up. Make liberal use of Magik’s Portals whenever possible, I’ve found way too many opportunities to get cheeky hits just by keeping the pressure on and altering approaches throughout the match.
Magik’s Best Teams
Magik’s powerful point potential means all it takes to make the most of her is some strong assists that can back her up. Luckily, Marvel Tokon has plenty of options of options on this front. Let me show you two of my favorites.
Hellbound Shapeshifters
Packing Magik with super strong assists is all it really takes to make a solid team, and the Hellbound Shapeshifts are made from some personal favorites. Carnage provides early, fast screen cover from his Shooter assist, Ghost Rider‘s Vertical holds enemies in the air for ages, allowing him to start combos or extend them, while Blade’s Assault Assist provides insane left/right mix on demand.
| Role | Character | Reason of Running |
| Starter/Position 1 | Magik | Magik can practically solo most teams, only requiring decent assists to optimize her damage and coverage against enemies who outrange her. Give her things, and she’ll give you the world. |
| Assemble Shooter/Position 2 | Carnage | Carnage’s ability to quickly cover most of the screen with his Shooter Assist allows for easy approaches, hit confirms, or counter-hit pressure if you catch the enemy whiffing. |
| Assemble Vertical/Position 3 | Ghost Rider | Ghost Rider’s Vertical is stupid strong when it comes to air-to-air situations. He can hold down a solid chunk of aerial real estate post-launcher or as an anti-air himself. |
| Assemble Assault/Position 4 | Blade | Blade’s Assault Assist is just ridiculous, side-switching the opponent automatically, allowing for some filthy left/right manipulation with Magik’s Portals. If you need extra pressure to close out a round, swapping to Blade is a great call. |
Hellbound Exiles
This line-up is a little different, still running Blade and Ghost Rider alongside Magik, but pairing them with Spider-Man for his amazing combo extension opportunities via his Assault assist. What can I say? The Midnight Sons crew works well together!
| Role | Character | Reason for Running |
| Starter/Position 1 | Magik | Magik can practically solo most teams, only requiring decent assists to optimize her damage and coverage against enemies who outrange her. Give her things, and she’ll give you the world. |
| Assemble Shooter/Position 2 | Blade | Blade’s Shooter Assist is also super solid, quickly firing a hail of bullets that help both with projectile wars and punishes. |
| Assemble Vertical/Position 3 | Ghost Rider | Ghost Rider’s Vertical is stupid strong when it comes to air-to-air situations. He can hold down a solid chunk of aerial real estate post-launcher or as an anti-air himself. |
| Assemble Assault/Position 4 | Spider-Man | Spidey’s Web Thwip from his Assault Assist can lead to some wild combo extensions, pulling enemies who are about to fall out of reach right back into your clutches. |
What’s Next for Marvel Tokon?
While Tokon continues to struggle with PC performance issues and online bottlenecking, the community has fought to uncover its mysteries. From secret characters to nail-biter color unlocks, Tokon has plenty to do if you can manage to run the game.
With rumored updates on the horizon, we can only hope the future of Tokon looks bright. If you’re interested in learning about some of the game’s most complex characters, check out our guide on Deadpool, the man with infinite special moves!
