Very short post today. especially following up the last post.
Many members of the VS community seem to misunderstand this permeating sense of entitlement that many older players feel. Recently, I've heard things like:
"It isn't like Upper Deck owes its old players anything."
"VS is back but with changes! What's the big deal?"
"Where did you even get the idea that they wouldn't make any changes to the game? Get over it!"
It seems to have caused a divide between two schools of thought:
1- Wait, this isn't the game we know and love, WTF!
2- Oh cool a new game to play! Those other guys can get over it
Instead of trying to write my feelings, I'll just let the original 2014 gencon clip address the source of the divide many of you out there may not even be aware of. (feel free to watch the entire interview from the start, as it also adresses things like how the Gencon release was specifically a market test before deciding if UD would commit to the project.)
(Alas, the salty sting of broken promises hurts.)
You lied to me, Upper Deck. And that's not cool. You promised the game we love and gave us something completely different, and that is a dick move. Hope this shines some light on those that are wondering "whats the big deal anyway?".
Tuesday, June 2, 2015
Tuesday, May 26, 2015
VS 2: Everything is different now
And with a mighty wallop Danny Mandel has exploded the entirety of the VS related internet-universe with the long-awaited breakdown of the gameplay changes we'll be seeing with the July release of VS 2PCG. (I still think it should be VS2:PCG! but alas.)
I'll try to address my general thoughts as I go through his UPPER DECK POST.
He first tells us what we are keeping, and of course it all makes sense to me (Since I want to keep it all! haha!) The disclaimer tries to be cute but whatever, changes. get to the changes. Hit me already.
There is no going back now kids... Here we go:
Enter, the "Main Character". You start the game with a Main Character in play, each character card (Not just the Main Character) will have a new stat aside from ATK and DEF called WOUNDS. When a character is stunned it gains a wound. if the number of wounds is equal to the WOUND stat it is KOd. If your Main Character is ever KOd, you lose the game. Of course, Main Characters have a high amount of Wound levels. (most have 5-6 wounds)
Unlike Alter-Egos, Main Characters have ATK and DEF stats as well. they function as any other character would, but when certain conditions are met, they can level up, increasing their ATK/DEF and obtaining new hero powers.
The turn sequence is now:
-A hero effect
-A character effect.
-An equipment effect. (although equipment hasn't been confirmed to return)
Yeaaaah... can't lie. I hate this.We may see new rules allow for universal mixing, however, but as it currently stands, it is safe to assume crossovers are gone. Back are the days of WoW TCG, where players sit for an eternity trying to decide which ability to toss to the row, never to be seen again. The value and motility of any discard cost plot twist, will fall from grace quickly making way for the more atypical rush builds focusing solely on "who draws the most +1's?"
So what's the problem Then? Well, for the most part, none. and for another part, EVERYTHING.
With this radical new speedy approach we very well may see things done that no VS player has ever had to do before. For starters?
A best of 3 format.
How about something else integral to a best-of format?
Sideboards.
It only makes sense, really.
Vs System, with these changes, goes from a high utility game engine where players build a 60-card all-encompassing deck that can attack, defend and answer tough matchups with skill and planning. To another game decided by the quality of your side-deck.
Now I should digress.
Upper Deck hasn't actually revealed a best of 3 format or side-deck utility. But it certainly isn't a reach to assume it is coming either.
Those that have a problem with the changes unfortunately face a problem of the heart.
Versus System 2PCG is NOT Versus System TCG any more than a Ford Mustang is a P51 Mustang.
The problem is: no matter which group you find yourself falling in line with, the community divide is entirely on personal preference. If I love the new game, I'm right! If I hate it, I'm still right!
Perhaps it is something as simple as the familiarity of a name to cause many of us to defend the game we enjoy so much, and rue the day VS changed. Adversely, the name really shouldn't matter at all, should it? Should I be grumpy that a company promised me a Mustang and gave me a car instead of the plane I expected? No matter what your answer, you are correct.
I just have to say it.
I mean, come-one guys, COME ON. Teasing VS 2PCG as the return of VS was an outright lie. Glad you sold those 10,000 worthless LCG packs last year at $50 a pop? You're welcome. The old VS community literally paid a smooth half mill in startup capital for this new Marvel Comics Card Game venture. And don't think I forgot that time UDE posted on april fools day 4-5 years ago "gauging" interest about VS returning either. Not Funny. The pessimist in me was right. God help me. CaptainSpud was right. /endrant
While I helped carry the VS TCG community in many ways, I can honestly say I love that game. While I was a part of it it was a humbling roller-coasting earth-shattering uplifting challenging and rewarding experience that has rewarded me with stories, experiences and friendships that in many ways I still have not seen the depth of it's effects in my life. I met my lovely wife and mother of my child playing away at this game. (Love you Stephie and lil Schala!) So certainly it holds a lot of meaning for me. I am not ashamed to say I am disappointed our game... MY game didn't remain intact.
But lets be real here, I will quietly (and sometimes not-so-quietly) pine for the days of old where your skill won your games, and your VS deck was a metaphor for yourself as you took on all-comers in a quest for perfection. It is a game I will continue play it for as long as I am fortunate enough to have a skilled opponent at my disposal.
That doesn't mean I'm not going all-in on this rebooted game either! I'm still going to take Danny Mandel at his word and let the new game speak for itself. I hope you all do too. Legendary seems well run. VS2: the questionable sequel is a go for 10k support as well. And yes, I'll give it a shot. in the meantime.... I'll still throwdown some old school VS with any old pilot that wants a game.
I'll try to address my general thoughts as I go through his UPPER DECK POST.
He first tells us what we are keeping, and of course it all makes sense to me (Since I want to keep it all! haha!) The disclaimer tries to be cute but whatever, changes. get to the changes. Hit me already.
There is no going back now kids... Here we go:
NO MORE ENDURANCE: MAIN CHARACTERS
When it was first mentioned that we'd be seeing a new "hero character" approach I was quite happy about that. It certainly provides a fresh means to inject some changes into similar decks and how they play out. Enter, the "Main Character". You start the game with a Main Character in play, each character card (Not just the Main Character) will have a new stat aside from ATK and DEF called WOUNDS. When a character is stunned it gains a wound. if the number of wounds is equal to the WOUND stat it is KOd. If your Main Character is ever KOd, you lose the game. Of course, Main Characters have a high amount of Wound levels. (most have 5-6 wounds)
Unlike Alter-Egos, Main Characters have ATK and DEF stats as well. they function as any other character would, but when certain conditions are met, they can level up, increasing their ATK/DEF and obtaining new hero powers.
WHAT IT MEANS
TOKENS! Tokens frikkin everywhere! I played WoW TCG,and I survived the ludicrous amounts of dice needed to track hero and ally health increases and decreases and I don't miss it. But back into the breech we go gentlemen. Was 3-5 dice enough before? HA! get 5 more. MINIMUM. That in addition to any specific ability tokens you may need. While you're at it maybe get some of those dice in a different color in case +1/+1 counters are a thing as well. We don't want to confuse our Main Character's wound counters with +1/+1 counters would we?
What about meta changes to a non life-point game? Burn decks are gone forever. Beyond that, entire playstyles are removed never to return. Endurance totals placed you into the game in a way that left you feeling like a participant. When Galactus came into play he didn't hurt your board... he hurt YOU personally. when you were pushed into the red zone, that's the moment when Shadowpact really turned up the heat to give you an advantage. By the same token, many a draft was turned on its head with an unexpected life-gain play. The VS revamp, for better or worse, has opted to remove this aspect for a more-combat-centric game. With so much riding on the back of your Main Character, you can bet our staple methods of dealing with characters has gone the way of the Dodo as well. All early-costed KO, RFP, and Spin effects are probably gone. Nobody will want to lose on turn 2 with a finishing move on a Main Character, after all.
What about meta changes to a non life-point game? Burn decks are gone forever. Beyond that, entire playstyles are removed never to return. Endurance totals placed you into the game in a way that left you feeling like a participant. When Galactus came into play he didn't hurt your board... he hurt YOU personally. when you were pushed into the red zone, that's the moment when Shadowpact really turned up the heat to give you an advantage. By the same token, many a draft was turned on its head with an unexpected life-gain play. The VS revamp, for better or worse, has opted to remove this aspect for a more-combat-centric game. With so much riding on the back of your Main Character, you can bet our staple methods of dealing with characters has gone the way of the Dodo as well. All early-costed KO, RFP, and Spin effects are probably gone. Nobody will want to lose on turn 2 with a finishing move on a Main Character, after all.
FULL RECOVERY: FIELD PRESENCE 101
Since wounds now completely dictate the ebb and flow of field presence, the recovery phase now recovers everything that stunned. A sensible adjustment. But costly in regards to cards becoming unable to compete with power creep as newer expansions add better quality characters.
WHAT IT MEANS
Expect to see whatever team with the best wound-cost ratios at the lowest costs to dominate early events. #thenewswarmdeck
PROTECTION, FLIGHT AND RANGE
Front row characters now protect ALL support row characters, Flight will still be able to attack the back row from the front row and range will still be able to attack from the back row but now, range is unstunnable against all defenders except those that also have range.
WHAT IT MEANS
Range in VS:2 is very similar to Long-range in the WoW TCG, I also expect to see s keyword applied to defend against this similar to MTG's interaction of Reach and Flight.
REMOVAL OF THE INITIATIVE
Initiative is gone. The turn sequence is now:
- Draw Phase: Draw two cards.
- Recovery Phase: Recover and Ready all of your Characters.
- Build Phase: Play a Resource, Recruit Characters, Rearrange your Formation.
- Main Phase: Start any number of Combats, one at a time.
WHAT IT MEANS
The game of cat and mouse is over. And honestly with it, a page ripped
out of the identity of Versus System. The nuances of mastermind VS
mastermind now make way for a combat-centric beatdown. Now, don't get me
wrong, the latter is fine, but a combat-centric battle engine often
doesn't leave much room for interesting out-of-the-box builds. The phase order changes seem odd but i'd guess Upper Deck got sick of the infamous "start of" phase triggers. Especially around recovery.
PLOT TWIST AND LOCATION CHANGES: ...WHY?
Plot twists can no longer be played from the row, while Locations are now fuel for Hero Powers with no other lasting effects. Locations are flipped face-down (WoW quest style) upon use.
WHAT IT MEANS
Conventional Team-ups are gone forever. Seriously. Team-ing up is now only viable as either:-A hero effect
-A character effect.
-An equipment effect. (although equipment hasn't been confirmed to return)
Yeaaaah... can't lie. I hate this.We may see new rules allow for universal mixing, however, but as it currently stands, it is safe to assume crossovers are gone. Back are the days of WoW TCG, where players sit for an eternity trying to decide which ability to toss to the row, never to be seen again. The value and motility of any discard cost plot twist, will fall from grace quickly making way for the more atypical rush builds focusing solely on "who draws the most +1's?"
FLATTER STAT CURVES: LESS PRESSURE TO HIT YOUR TURN DROP
Since the turn player is always ahead in resources, it forces a nerf-bat approach regarding ATK and DEF values, minimalizing the spike in later drops vs early drops.
WHAT IT MEANS
No chance for any of us to play "New VS" against "Old VS". Casual VS players everywhere, are shrugging and sighing.
OVERALL GAME CHANGES: MUSTANGS VS MUSTANGS
So we have a design team overhauling the VS Game Engine as if they were installing a Rocket into a Moped. Everything changed for the sake of Speed and Combat. Now as much as I sound like an old man sitting on his porch wailing about the fall of mankind, I can really, (I'm serious!) REALLY get kind-of exited about this game!So what's the problem Then? Well, for the most part, none. and for another part, EVERYTHING.
With this radical new speedy approach we very well may see things done that no VS player has ever had to do before. For starters?
A best of 3 format.
How about something else integral to a best-of format?
Sideboards.
It only makes sense, really.
Vs System, with these changes, goes from a high utility game engine where players build a 60-card all-encompassing deck that can attack, defend and answer tough matchups with skill and planning. To another game decided by the quality of your side-deck.
Now I should digress.
Upper Deck hasn't actually revealed a best of 3 format or side-deck utility. But it certainly isn't a reach to assume it is coming either.
Those that have a problem with the changes unfortunately face a problem of the heart.
Versus System 2PCG is NOT Versus System TCG any more than a Ford Mustang is a P51 Mustang.
The problem is: no matter which group you find yourself falling in line with, the community divide is entirely on personal preference. If I love the new game, I'm right! If I hate it, I'm still right!
 | ||
| Superior technology in every way, and still doesn't fly. |
BUT FIRST I MUST RANT
I just have to say it.
I mean, come-one guys, COME ON. Teasing VS 2PCG as the return of VS was an outright lie. Glad you sold those 10,000 worthless LCG packs last year at $50 a pop? You're welcome. The old VS community literally paid a smooth half mill in startup capital for this new Marvel Comics Card Game venture. And don't think I forgot that time UDE posted on april fools day 4-5 years ago "gauging" interest about VS returning either. Not Funny. The pessimist in me was right. God help me. CaptainSpud was right. /endrant
WRAPPING THINGS UP
While I helped carry the VS TCG community in many ways, I can honestly say I love that game. While I was a part of it it was a humbling roller-coasting earth-shattering uplifting challenging and rewarding experience that has rewarded me with stories, experiences and friendships that in many ways I still have not seen the depth of it's effects in my life. I met my lovely wife and mother of my child playing away at this game. (Love you Stephie and lil Schala!) So certainly it holds a lot of meaning for me. I am not ashamed to say I am disappointed our game... MY game didn't remain intact.
But lets be real here, I will quietly (and sometimes not-so-quietly) pine for the days of old where your skill won your games, and your VS deck was a metaphor for yourself as you took on all-comers in a quest for perfection. It is a game I will continue play it for as long as I am fortunate enough to have a skilled opponent at my disposal.
That doesn't mean I'm not going all-in on this rebooted game either! I'm still going to take Danny Mandel at his word and let the new game speak for itself. I hope you all do too. Legendary seems well run. VS2: the questionable sequel is a go for 10k support as well. And yes, I'll give it a shot. in the meantime.... I'll still throwdown some old school VS with any old pilot that wants a game.
 | |
| I don't see no Goddamn sunset! |
Friday, May 22, 2015
The return of VS, thoughts musings and whatever.
The triumphant return of VS has been announced and I just have to say this out loud...
the new name sucks. No really. It blows.
I can only imagine a scenario like this:
UD rep #1 - So we're bringing VS back?
UD rep #2 - Yep, but the original designer is going to change a few things first.
UD rep #1 - Ahh I see, that could be cool, but if we're changing it, what's the new name going to be? We can't use LCG. Oh god i don't want to remember that. Maybe something like PCG?
UD rep #2 - PCG?
UD rep #1 - Yeah! Stands for Player Card Game. It could have a nice ring to it!
*dramatic voice* Versus System 2: the Player Card Game. Simple, to the point. It has a ring to it though. VS 2: PCG... yeah I like it! write that down will ya?
UD rep #2 - Yeah got it. (quickly writes down VS 2PCG) Ill send this one up.
So look, if somewhere out there, UDE rep #1 sees this, I feel you man. and i just want you to know...
I know what you meant, man.
So anyways the first FAQ was released today, not much was revealed, but lets clarify what we know:
- the 400 card set is complete playsets, this leaves around 25 cards per team. Not the largest margin of diversity, but i'm hoping generic team-ups will add options. I'm also hoping if army cards are reintroduced we see more than 4. or else army lists ared gonna get HELLA expensive.
- The game is reworked to use hero characters. This actually could be good. in the past we've had some quirky fun with alter-egos. you remember them, right?
See? I knew you would! This could be a very successful page right out of the WOW tcg and i am actually diggin it. Not sure how similar they will be, but hey, not a bad idea.
-The release will include 4 teams, given UD's preference to work closely with scheduled releases, I'm guessing the recent Marvel franchise movies will all be covered to some extent. Guardians, Avengers, Fan 4, and Spider-man maybe? It seems as logical a guess as any, after-all, nobody specified it would only be the Disney marvel universe included, after-all.
Did our nagging questions of the nature of the change to VS get addressed?
Not really. I'm certainly waiting with held breath as we have been promised a more detailed run-down from the game's original design lead when hopefully, we learn the answers to questions like:
-We were told initiatives were done away with. Is this in name only? How can you balance such a striking removal of what made VS System so unique to begin with?
-Can a tabletop player play old content vs new content?
Until those questions are answered for a start, most of us old VS dogs will probably just keep baying at the moon.
In the meantime, check out the original FAQ for yourself HERE!!
Tuesday, March 24, 2015
SPRINGTIME SMACKDOWN: Crowning the victors!
Now with a diverse betting pool AND a nice group of deckbuilders, it's time to break down how everyone did! First off, here are the overall placings of each deck as well as the people who were rooting them to victory!
*Keep in mind, only the TOP placed result for any fans is tracked for rewards.*
*Keep in mind, only the TOP placed result for any fans is tracked for rewards.*
(Deck Numbers are based on decklist submissions, not the tournament bracket)
1ST PLACE!
Deck 19- Ultimate Fear - Fearsome 5 + S.H.I.E.L.D.
Designer: Aaron mead
Fans:
-JSeb De L'aigle
-Robert Snyder
2ND PLACE!
Deck 18- ...and the horse you rode in on. - Revenge Squad + Skrull
Designer: JSeb De L'aigle
Fans:
-Vern Lee
-Robert Snyder (already placed)
3RD - 4TH PLACE!
Deck 17- Six Secret Burial Grounds - Secret Society + Secret Six
Designer: Luke Johnson
Fans:
-Glen D Preston
Deck 29- Thunderworld - Thunderbolts + Underworld
Designer: Josh MacDonald
Fans:
-Joe Stankard
5TH - 8TH PLACE!
Deck 23- Admiral Wolverine Lightning-bolt - Negative Zone + Anti-matter
Designer: David Clement
Fans:
-none!?!?
Deck 24- HULK LOVE MAGIC - Warbound + Shadowpact
Designer: Alixis Ullua Nunez
Fans:
-John Viola
-JSeb De L'aigle (already placed)
Deck 1- League of Doom - Doom + JLA
Designer: Brian Foley
Fans:
-Scott Hamilton
-D.j. Foley
-11- Prey on the Weak - Brotherhood + Birds of Prey
Designer: D.j. Foley
Fans:
-Joseph Clarke
9TH - 16TH PLACE!
Deck 27- Doom Riders - Horsemen + Doom Patrol
Designer: Etienne Boudreau
Fans:
-Luca Invernizzi
Deck 15- GangGreen - Injustice Gang + Emerald Enemies
Designer: Peter Hoettels
Fans:
-John Hornung
Deck 25- Gods gone Wild - Wild Pack + New Gods
Designer: Steph Mead
Fans:
-Luca Invernizzi (already placed)
Deck 3- Hodge Podge - Heralds + Injustice gang
Designer: Jerry Donahue
Fans:
-Vern Lee (already placed)
Deck 21- Justice Supreme - Squadron Supreme + JLI
Designer: John Hornung
Fans:
-Scott DeJarnette
Deck 4- Juvenile Crime - Teen Titans + Sinister Syndicate
Designer: Luca Invernizzi
Fans:
-Scott Hamilton (already placed)
-D.j. Foley (already placed)
Deck 9- Master Man of Steel - Crime Lords + Team Superman
Designer: Joseph (captain cuba) Sanchez
Fans:
-none!?!?
Deck 7- Talia and the Masters of Vengeance - Masters of Evil + Villians United
Designer: Robert Snyder
Fans:
-Joseph Clarke (already placed)
-Scott DeJarnette (already placed)
HONORABLE MENTIONS TO ALL OTHERS INVOLVED!
| 4 Car Pileup -Glen d Preston |
||||||
| Assassins Creed -John Hornung |
||||||
| Attilan-d a punch -Joseph Clarke |
||||||
| Coat Checked -Vern Lee |
||||||
| Eh? Pocolips -Scott Hamilton |
||||||
| GLMK Stall -Daniel Lanier |
||||||
| Hellfoes -Lee Dunn |
||||||
| Just Say No -Brian Foley |
||||||
| Legion of Earth's Mightiest Heroes -Hesed Ramos |
||||||
| Morlocks of Infinite Earths -Matt Craswell |
||||||
| No Man Escapes Bastion -John Viola |
||||||
| Right Hand of Infinity -Charlie Bell |
||||||
| Society of Inmates -Joe Stankard |
||||||
| Sunburst Special -Joe Clarke |
||||||
| The Lonely Conqueror -Joe Mead |
||||||
| Weapon K -Mark Smith |
All deckbuilders who snagged themselves a win will get prizes, (thats the top 16 finishers) However several Honorable mentions won "door prizes" If you are a winner, please PM me your addy and i'll make sure you get some sweet swag to remember me by! I may need your preferences regarding prize specifics as i have quite a bit to hand out!
***All prizes are going snail mail. Overseas prizes will ship at standard package rates. I am not responsible for delayed reception or any other shipping issues that arise.***
Monday, March 23, 2015
FINALS Best of Three: Ultimate Fear VS ...and the Horse you rode in on
THE SPRINGTIME SMACKDOWN FINAL!
Ultimate Fear
- Aaron
VS
...and the Horse you rode in on
- JS
****GAME 1****
JS wins the flip and elects to take Odds.
Aaron Mulligans. JS keeps.
TURN 1 (JS Initiative)
DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)
BUILD PHASE
JS sets a resource, and recruits Hope.
Aaron sets a resource and recruits Wasp in the hidden area activating her to burn JS for 3 (removing Blade, Press the attack, Shimmer, Thor and Wasp)
COMBAT PHASE
JS attacks directly with Hope for 2.
RECOVERY PHASE
Ultimate Fear -> 48 ...and the Horse you rode in on -> 47
TURN 2 (Aaron Initiative)
DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)
BUILD PHASE
Aaron sets a resource and recruits Shimmer in the front row.
JS sets a resource and recruits Terra-Man. He then recruits Mr. Mxy (now costing 0) forming them all in the front row.
COMBAT PHASE
Aaron flips up Forbidden Loyalties, teaming up S.H.I.E.L.D. and Fearsome Five, discarding Quicksilver to place a +1/+1 counter on Shimmer. he then activates her effect forcing JS to exhaust Mxy and Hope. he follows up with Wasp, (removing Bullseye, Triskelion, Entangle, Lady Deathstrike and Wasp) to burn JS for 3.
JS Flips up Battle for Metropilis and atttacks Shimmer with Terra-Man for a mutual stun.
RECOVERY PHASE
Aaron recovers Shimmer.
JS recovers Terra-Man.
Ultimate Fear -> 42 ...and the Horse you rode in on -> 45
TURN 3 (JS Initiative)
DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)
BUILD PHASE
JS sets a resource and recruits Black Bolt in the hidden front row, flipping up Act of Defiance to team-up Skrull and Revenge Squad befiore flipping up a second Act to team-up Skrull and S.H.I.E.L.D.
Aaron sets a resource and recruits Dr. Sivana protected by Shimmer and passes.
COMBAT PHASE
Js declares Terra-Man into Dr. Sivana. Aaron responds, flipping up Triskelion and playing Entangled from his hand exhausting Dr Sivana (Discarding Shimmer) to exhaust Terra-Man. Aaron then activates Wasp, burning JS for 3 (removing Sleeper Cell, iron Man, Liberation Day, Clint Barton, and Forbidden Loyalties)
JS sends Hope into Shimmer, Aaron responds, playing Cover fire from the row, allowing shimmer to avoid the stun and stunback Hope. Not wanting to sacrifice any characters, JS passes.
Aaron sends Shimmer into Mxy triggering his effect to return him to JS' hand then passes combat.
RECOVERY PHASE
JS recovers Hope.
Ultimate Fear -> 45 ...and the Horse you rode in on -> 41
TURN 4 (Aaron Initiative)
DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)
BUILD PHASE
Aaron sets a resource and recruits Iron man, forming Dr. Sivana adjacent in the support row and protected by Shimmer.
JS sets and flips executive privelege, activating its effect (Discarding Warskrull) to reveal Professor Emil Hamilton and Captain America, and placing captain america into his hand and Emil on the bottom of his deck. He recruits Maxima in the front row and free-recruits Mxy protected by Maxima.
COMBAT PHASE
Iron man declares an attack on Mxy forcing it back into JS' hand causing a reset, readying Iron Man. Aaron then activates Shimmer to exhaust all 4 of JS' characters. He then swings Dr. Sivana into Hope for an easy stun before sending Iron Man into Maxima for a mutual stun before activating triskelion (removing Dr. Sivana from play) to retrieve Clint Barton and place it into his hand and immediately using it's effect (exhausting Wasp) to remove Maxima from the game.
JS passes Combat
RECOVERY PHASE
Aaron recovers Iron Man.
JS recovers Hope.
Ultimate Fear -> 41 ...and the Horse you rode in on -> 33
TURN 5 (JS Initiative)
DRAW PHASE
Aaron chains Triskelion to the draw, (removing 0 cards) to place Bullseye, lester into his hand.
(Both Players draw 2 cards)
BUILD PHASE
JS sets a resource and recruits Lex Luthor, metropolis Mogul. Aaron chains to the recruit activating Wasp to burn JS for three (Removing Triskelion, Press the attack, The Underworld, Quicksilver, and Shimmer) then JS recruits Mxy in the front row and activates Executive Provelege (discarding Emil to reveal Mob Mentality and Super Skrull, placing them both into his hand before passing his build.
Aaron sets a resource and recruits Nick Fury (see: SHAFT) Protecting Dr. Sivana and recruits Bullseye in the hidden area protecting Wasp.
COMBAT PHASE
JS sends Terra-Man into Iron Man for a mutual stun. Aaron reinforces with Dr. Sivana. Lex attacks Nick Fury for an uncontested stun. Mxy swings into Shimmer for a stunn then Black Bolt swings for a mutual stun into Dr Sivana. JS then plays Death of Superman from the row to KO Iron Man.
RECOVERY PHASE
JS recovers Terra-Man, KOing Black Bolt.
Aaron recovers Nick Fury, Koing Shimmer and Dr. Sivana.
Ultimate Fear -> 21 ...and the Horse you rode in on -> 27
TURN 6 (Aaron Initiative)
DRAW PHASE
Aaron Chains Triskelion (removing 0) to place The Underworld Star into his hand.
(Both Players draw 2 cards)
BUILD PHASE
Aaron sets a resource and flips Underworld Star (discarding Bullseye) To search for Dr. Light, recruiting him protected by Nick Fury.
Js sets a resource and recruits Super Skrull forming Skrull protecting Lex and Terra-Man protecting Mr/ Mxy with hope in the unprotected front row. he then activates Executive Privelege (discarding Terra-Man) revealing Mob mentality and Brainiac placing them both into JS' hand.
COMBAT PHASE
Aaron thinks for some time before sending Dr. Light into Terra-Man. Mt Mxy reinforces. Then Nick Fury attacks Hope for an easy stun. JS uses Hope's effect, KOing her to flip down Death of Superman. Unable to deal with the Super Skrull, Aaron Passes combat.
Without hesitation, JS sends Super Skrull into Dr. Light. Once legal, Aaron plays Cover Fire from his hand for +6 DEF. JS responds with Mob Mentality played from his hand. Knowing the KO is on it's way, Aaron flips up a second Triskelion (KOing the first to uniqueness, and activates it (removing 0 cards) to grab cover fire and play it again. JS concedes the stun and passes combat, (taking 0 stun from Skrull's cosmic effect)
RECOVERY PHASE
JS recovers Super Skrull, KOing Terra-Man.
Ultimate Fear -> 21 ...and the Horse you rode in on -> 20
TURN 7 (JS Initiative)
DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)
BUILD PHASE
Before setting his resource, JS activates Executive Privelege, (discarding Maxima) revealing Paibok and Lex Luthor, placing Lex into his hand and Paibok on the bottom of his deck. He then sets and flips Blinding Light and recruits Captain America and maxima, forming everyone into the front row.
Aaron sets a resource and flips up The Underworld Star, (discarding Psimon) to search for Iron Man, recruiting him in the support row protected by Dr. Light.
COMBAT PHASE
JS sends Captain America into Nick Fury. Aaron reinforces with Iron Man. Then Maxima swings into Iron Man for an uncontested stun thanks to Captain America. Super skrull declares into doc light but Aaron activates The Triskelion (removing 0 cards) to place Sleeper Cells into his hand. he plays it immediately, exhausting wasp, bullseye and Dr. Light to exhaust Super Skrull before his attack is legal. Undaunted, JS sends Lex into Dr. Light bolstered with Mob mentality for another uncontested stun before exhausting Mxy to Death of Superman to KO Dr. Light.
Game 1 ends with an upset!
HORSE WINS!
RECOVERY PHASE
Ultimate Fear -> -2 ...and the Horse you rode in on -> 20
POSTGAME THOUGHTS
Aaron Thoughts:
That Lex!
JS Thoughts:
I wasn't sure i could keep lex in play but his draws seemed lackluster so it worked out well.
GAME 2
As the loser of match 1, Aaron selects Odds for his initiative
Both players keep.
TURN 1 (Aaron Initiative)
DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)
BUILD PHASE
Aaron sets a resource and passes.
JS sets a resource and also passes.
COMBAT PHASE
Aaron stares blankly into the abyss. JS stares back. Entertained, Chthulhu slow claps.
RECOVERY PHASE
Ultimate Fear -> 50 ...and the Horse you rode in on -> 50
TURN 2 (JS Initiative)
DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)
BUILD PHASE
JS thinks for a moment and reluctantly recruits Atomic Skull after setting his resource.
Aaron sets a resource and recruits Wasp. Activating her to burn for 3 (Removing The Underworld Star, Iron Man, Triskelion, Dr. Sivana and Sleeper Cells)
COMBAT PHASE
Atomic Skull swings direct for 2.
RECOVERY PHASE
Ultimate Fear -> 48 ...and the Horse you rode in on -> 47
TURN 3 (Aaron Initiative)
DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)
BUILD PHASE
Aaron sets a resource, flips up Triskelion, and recruits Dr. Sivana in the support row before flipping up Forbidden Loyalties to team-up S.H.I.E.L.D. and Fearsome Five. Opting to discard an Entangled to place a +1/+1 counter on Dr. Sivana.
JS Sets a resource and flips to reveal warskrull. KOing it to place an Act of Defiance into his row before recruiting Wolverine, skruknucklehead protecting Atomic Skull. He flips up an act of Defiance to team-up Skrull and Revenge Squad.
COMBAT PHASE
Dr. Sivana swings into wolverine for the stun. JS reinforces with A-Skull. Wasp follows up and trades stuns with Atomic Skull.
RECOVERY PHASE
Aaron recovers Wasp.
JS recovers Atomic Skull, KOing Wolverine.
Ultimate Fear -> 47 ...and the Horse you rode in on -> 42
TURN 4 (JS Initiative)
DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)
BUILD PHASE
JS sets and flips executive privelege, using its effect (Discarding Emil Hamilton) revealing Captain America and a Mob Mentality placing them both into his hand. He sighs and recruits Ruin from his hand, forming him in front of Atomic Skull.
Happy to not see Maxima, Aaron sets a resource and recruits Iron Man, forming him behind Sivana.
COMBAT PHASE
JS flips up his remaining 2 face down cards Both Acts of Defiance! he teams up skrull with S.H.I.E.L.D. and then teams up Skrull with Fearsome Five. And sends Ruin into Iron Man. Before the attack is legal, Aaron responds playing Liberation Day from his row, (Removing Quicksilver from play) he then chains The Underworld Star playing it from the row (Discarding Lady Deathstrike) he then Chains Wasp, (removing The underworld Star, Sleeper Cells, Clint Barton, Shimmer and Press the attack)and Then chains The Triskelion, activating it (Removing Cover Fire and Bullseye from play)
Triskelion resolves first, placing Entangle into Aaron's hand, Wasp then burns JS for 3, Underworld Star resolves, placing Dr. Light into Aaron's Hand and finaly, Liberation Day, grabs Thor and places it into his hand.
Aaron finally plays Entangle, exhausting Ruin (discarding Thor) preventing the attack from becoming legal.
js then reveals lex in his hand to Atomic Skull's effect to Stun Wasp and passes combat.
Aaron Sends Dr. Sivana into Ruin for an easy stun. Ruin's effect KO's Executive Privelege to place and flip a battle for Metropolis.
RECOVERY PHASE
JS Recovers Ruin.
Aaron recovers Wasp.
Ultimate Fear -> 46 ...and the Horse you rode in on -> 35
TURN 5 (Aaron Initiative)
DRAW PHASE
Aaron chains Triskelion to the draw (removing Dr. Light) to place Bullseye into his hand.
(Both Players draw 2 cards)
BUILD PHASE
Aaron sets a resource and recruits Blade protecting Wasp and Bullseye in his support row next to Wasp.
JS sets reveals and KO's Warskrull to place his 4th and Final Act of Defiance in his resource row, flipping it to team up skrull with the Avengers. And recruits The ever-so-dominating Lex Luthor. Aaron chains to the recruit Bullseye's effect. Stunning Atomic Skull. JS forms Lex behind Ruin.
COMBAT PHASE
Not wanting to mess around, Aaron sends Iron Man into Emil. Lex Reinforces and Ruin Stuns, triggering his effect, KOing the avengers team-up for a second Battle for Metropolis. Continuing to play it safe, he swings Dr. Sivana, Blade, and Wasp into Lex. Lex stuns back Blade in the mutual stun.
RECOVERY PHASE
Aaron recovers Blade.
JS recovers Lex, KOing Ruin and Atomic Skull.
Ultimate Fear -> 43 ...and the Horse you rode in on -> 25
TURN 6 (JS Initiative)
DRAW PHASE
Aaron chains triskelion to the draw (removing 0 cards) to place Dr. Light into his hand.
(Both Players draw 2 cards)
BUILD PHASE
JS sets and flips Executive Privelege, using its effect (Discarding Captain America) to reveal Metallo and Executive Privilege placing them both into JS' hand. he then recruits Captain America, Warskrull and Hope, forming everyone into the front row.
Aaron sets a resource and recruits Dr. Light protecting Iron man. Hope then attacks Dr. Sivana for a stun.
COMBAT PHASE
JS sends lex Luthor into Dr. Light, stunning Dr. Light (triggering iron man's effect) then sending cap into Iron Man (at 10 ATK) Aaron reinforces with Sivana and Iron Man stuns. War Skrull then attacks direct with three Mob mentality's for 14 before JS passes.
Aaron passes combat.
RECOVERY PHASE
Dr. Light auto-recovers
Aaron recovers Iron Man, KOing Dr. Sivana.
Ultimate Fear -> 15 ...and the Horse you rode in on -> 25
TURN 7 (Aaron Initiative)
DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)
BUILD PHASE
Aaron sets a resource and recruits Psimon adjacent to Iron Man.
JS sets a resource and uses Executive Privilege's effect (discarding Warskrull) revealing Mobilize and Brainiac 13, placing Brainiac into his hand and sending mobilize tot he bottom of his deck. he forms Cap and Lex in the support row, protected by warskrull and Hope respectively. He then passes, unable to recruit or play anything due to Psimon's effect.
COMBAT PHASE
Aaron sends Iron Man into Hope for an easy stun. JS reinforces with Lex. Psimon then swings into Lex. Cap reinforces. Then Aaron activates Bullseye to stun warskrull before Dr. Light swings over Cap.
To follow up Blade swings direct for 5 and Wasp activates to burn for 3, ending the game.
RECOVERY PHASE
Ultimate Fear -> 15 ...and the Horse you rode in on -> -2
POSTGAME THOUGHTS
JS Thoughts:
Psymon destroyed me so hard, i almost scooped right there. Well played.
Aaron Thoughts:
Seems we both want odds in these games. next game will be rough.
GAME 3
Since JS lost last round he selects Odd initiatives.
JS keeps. Aaron Mulligans.
TURN 1 (JS Initiative)
DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)
BUILD PHASE
JS sets a resource and passes.
Aaron sets a resource and passes.
COMBAT PHASE
Both players wonder just how much wood a woodchuck CAN chuck.
RECOVERY PHASE
Ultimate Fear -> 50 ...and the Horse you rode in on -> 50
TURN 2 (Aaron Initiative)
DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)
BUILD PHASE
Aaron sets a resource and recruits Quicksilver.
JS sets a resource and recruits Brainiac 13 in the hidden area front row and flips up Battle for Metropolis.
COMBAT PHASE
Aaron attacks direct with Quicksilver for 2.
JS attacks and stuns Quicksilver with Brainiac triggering quicksilver going rfp until next turn.
RECOVERY PHASE
Ultimate Fear -> 47 ...and the Horse you rode in on -> 48
TURN 3 (JS Initiative)
DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)
BUILD PHASE
JS recruits Wolverine and free-recruits Mxy (since wolverine has all affiliations) forming them all in the front row.
Aaron sets a resource and Quicksilver returns to play in the front row. Aaron then flips up Triskelion and recruits Dr. Sivana, flipping up Forbidden Loyalties (discarding Dr. Sivana) to team-up S.H.I.E.L.D. and Fearsome Five, placing a +1/+1 counter on Dr. Sivana.
COMBAT PHASE
JS sends Mxy into Quicksilver stunning and removing it from play before sending Wolverine into Dr. Sivana for a mutual stun before sending Brainiac direct for 3.
RECOVERY PHASE
JS recovers Wolverine.
Aaron recovers Dr. Sivana.
Ultimate Fear -> 39 ...and the Horse you rode in on -> 45
TURN 4 (Aaron Initiative)
DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)
BUILD PHASE
Aaron sets a resource and recruits Iron man protected by Sivana while Quicksilver returns into play in the front row.
Js sets a resource and recruits Terra-Man before flipping up Blinding Light
COMBAT PHASE
Aaron sends Dr. Sivana into Wolverine for a mutual stun, triggering iron man's recovery effect. Iron Man attacks Terra-Man for an easy stun. Quicksilver swings into Mxy to return it to JS' hand before exhausting for Clint Barton's cost, removing Terra-Man from play.
JS swings brainiac into Quicksilver for an easy stun removing him from play until Aaron's next build.
RECOVERY PHASE
Dr. Sivana auto-recovers and gains a +1/+1 counter.
JS recovers Wolverine.
Ultimate Fear -> 33 ...and the Horse you rode in on -> 37
TURN 5 (JS Initiative)
DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)
BUILD PHASE
JS sets a resource and flips Battle for Metropolis, then recruits Lex Luthor in the front row beside Wolverine. before playing Mxy up front for free.
Aaron sets a resource and plays Blade in the hidden front row before recruiting Wasp behind him.
COMBAT PHASE
JS sends brainiac and Mxy into Dr. Sivana. sivana stuns back Brainiac in a mutual stun triggering Iron Man's effect. Wolverine then swings into Quicksilver stunning it while iron Man reinforces. (removing quicksilver from play again) Lex then swings over Iron Man with a Mob mentality played from the row for decent breakthrough on the one-sided stun
Aaron sends Blade into Wolverine for a mutual stun and passes.
RECOVERY PHASE
Dr. Sivana auto-recovers and gains a +1/+1 counter.
JS recovers Brainiac, KOing Wolverine.
Aaron recovers Iron Man, KOing Blade
Ultimate Fear -> 14 ...and the Horse you rode in on -> 31
TURN 6 (Aaron Initiative)
DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)
BUILD PHASE
Aaron sets a resource and recruits Dr. Light and recruits Life Model Decoy boosting for 0. Quicksilver returns to play. Aaron forms life model protecting Iron Man and Quicksilver protecting Dr. Light while Sivana sits unprotected adjacent to iron Man.
JS sets a resource, revealing Warskrull, KOing it for an Act of Defiance finally teaming-up Skrull and Revenge Squad before recruiting Paibok and Black Bolt. forming his hidden characters in the front row and protecting lex with Paibok while Mxy sits adjacent in the support row.
COMBAT PHASE
Aaron sends Sivana and Quicksilver into Paibok for a mutual stun with Paiboc stunning Sivana, triggering Iron Man's effect. Dr Light then swings into Mxy returning Mxy to JS' hand before sending him into Lex. Once legal, JS plays Death of Superman from his hand exhausting Lex to KO Dr. Sivana before settling for a one-sided stun. Wasp then activates to burn JS for 3 (Removing Nick Fury, Cover Fire, Press the attack, Shimmer and Wasp) Aaron then plays Clint Barton's effect from his hand, exhausting Life Model Decoy to remove Lex from the game. Afterwards, he activates Triskelion (removing 0 cards) to grab Clint Barton, playing it from his hand exhausting Iron man, to remove Paibok from the game before finally passing his combat phase.
JS sends Black Bolt into Life Model Decoy for 4 endurance loss (trigering Iron Man's effect) before sending brainiac into Quicksilver for 4 more damage.
RECOVERY PHASE
Life Model Decoy auto-recovers, gaining a +1/+1 counter
Ultimate Fear -> 3 ...and the Horse you rode in on -> 20
TURN 7 (JS Initiative)
DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)
BUILD PHASE
JS sets a resource and flips up executive privilege (discarding captain america) to reveal Blinding Light and Ruin placing them both into JS' hand. He then recruits Mxy for free, followed up with Captain America and Maxima forming everyone in the front row.
Aaron sets a resource, Quicksilver re-enters play in the frobnt row protecting Dr. Light. he activates Wasp, burning JS for 3 (removing Entangle, Bullseye, Clint Barton, The Underworld Star and Shimmer) Dr Light activates, stunning Maxima, then activating Sleeper Cells exhausting Iron Man, Life Model Decoy and Quicksilver to ready Dr. Light. Before activating Triskelion (removing 0 cards) to grab Shimmer. Aaron then plays The Underworld Star from his row (Discarding Shimmer) to fetch Thor, recruiting him and activating his effect. With 16 cards removed from play and 31 still in the deck JS selects to lose 16 Endurance. Aaron then flips up a second triskelion, KOing the first to uniqueness, activating it (removing 0 cards) to fetch Press the attack. and immediately playing it to ready Thor for another activation for 17 endurance loss to JS. Finally, Dr. Light activates, stunning Captain America.
At the end of the build, JS activates Brainiac's effect to drop Dr. Light's DEF by 7.
COMBAT PHASE
JS sends Mxy into Dr. Light for a stun and Black Bolt swings into Quicksilver for a mutual stun.
RECOVERY PHASE
Ultimate Fear -> -8 ...and the Horse you rode in on -> -24
ULTIMATE FEAR WINS THE SPRINGTIME SMACKDOWN!
POSTGAME THOUGHTS
JS Thoughts:
Both of us seemed to miss everything this last game, No team-up until turn 6 really cramped any early effectiveness Cap might have given me. Even with only a few Wasp activations Thor still hurts. A really fun game overall!
Aaron Thoughts:
Bad hands with timely KO options was enough to push the game in my favor and after barely squeaking by turn 6 on 3 endurance was able to secure some Thor activations. it was extremely interesting to see just how badly Lex shuts down this build.
Ultimate Fear
- Aaron
VS
...and the Horse you rode in on
- JS
****GAME 1****
JS wins the flip and elects to take Odds.
Aaron Mulligans. JS keeps.
TURN 1 (JS Initiative)
DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)
BUILD PHASE
JS sets a resource, and recruits Hope.
Aaron sets a resource and recruits Wasp in the hidden area activating her to burn JS for 3 (removing Blade, Press the attack, Shimmer, Thor and Wasp)
COMBAT PHASE
JS attacks directly with Hope for 2.
RECOVERY PHASE
Ultimate Fear -> 48 ...and the Horse you rode in on -> 47
TURN 2 (Aaron Initiative)
DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)
BUILD PHASE
Aaron sets a resource and recruits Shimmer in the front row.
JS sets a resource and recruits Terra-Man. He then recruits Mr. Mxy (now costing 0) forming them all in the front row.
COMBAT PHASE
Aaron flips up Forbidden Loyalties, teaming up S.H.I.E.L.D. and Fearsome Five, discarding Quicksilver to place a +1/+1 counter on Shimmer. he then activates her effect forcing JS to exhaust Mxy and Hope. he follows up with Wasp, (removing Bullseye, Triskelion, Entangle, Lady Deathstrike and Wasp) to burn JS for 3.
JS Flips up Battle for Metropilis and atttacks Shimmer with Terra-Man for a mutual stun.
RECOVERY PHASE
Aaron recovers Shimmer.
JS recovers Terra-Man.
Ultimate Fear -> 42 ...and the Horse you rode in on -> 45
TURN 3 (JS Initiative)
DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)
BUILD PHASE
JS sets a resource and recruits Black Bolt in the hidden front row, flipping up Act of Defiance to team-up Skrull and Revenge Squad befiore flipping up a second Act to team-up Skrull and S.H.I.E.L.D.
Aaron sets a resource and recruits Dr. Sivana protected by Shimmer and passes.
COMBAT PHASE
Js declares Terra-Man into Dr. Sivana. Aaron responds, flipping up Triskelion and playing Entangled from his hand exhausting Dr Sivana (Discarding Shimmer) to exhaust Terra-Man. Aaron then activates Wasp, burning JS for 3 (removing Sleeper Cell, iron Man, Liberation Day, Clint Barton, and Forbidden Loyalties)
JS sends Hope into Shimmer, Aaron responds, playing Cover fire from the row, allowing shimmer to avoid the stun and stunback Hope. Not wanting to sacrifice any characters, JS passes.
Aaron sends Shimmer into Mxy triggering his effect to return him to JS' hand then passes combat.
RECOVERY PHASE
JS recovers Hope.
Ultimate Fear -> 45 ...and the Horse you rode in on -> 41
TURN 4 (Aaron Initiative)
DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)
BUILD PHASE
Aaron sets a resource and recruits Iron man, forming Dr. Sivana adjacent in the support row and protected by Shimmer.
JS sets and flips executive privelege, activating its effect (Discarding Warskrull) to reveal Professor Emil Hamilton and Captain America, and placing captain america into his hand and Emil on the bottom of his deck. He recruits Maxima in the front row and free-recruits Mxy protected by Maxima.
COMBAT PHASE
Iron man declares an attack on Mxy forcing it back into JS' hand causing a reset, readying Iron Man. Aaron then activates Shimmer to exhaust all 4 of JS' characters. He then swings Dr. Sivana into Hope for an easy stun before sending Iron Man into Maxima for a mutual stun before activating triskelion (removing Dr. Sivana from play) to retrieve Clint Barton and place it into his hand and immediately using it's effect (exhausting Wasp) to remove Maxima from the game.
JS passes Combat
RECOVERY PHASE
Aaron recovers Iron Man.
JS recovers Hope.
Ultimate Fear -> 41 ...and the Horse you rode in on -> 33
TURN 5 (JS Initiative)
DRAW PHASE
Aaron chains Triskelion to the draw, (removing 0 cards) to place Bullseye, lester into his hand.
(Both Players draw 2 cards)
BUILD PHASE
JS sets a resource and recruits Lex Luthor, metropolis Mogul. Aaron chains to the recruit activating Wasp to burn JS for three (Removing Triskelion, Press the attack, The Underworld, Quicksilver, and Shimmer) then JS recruits Mxy in the front row and activates Executive Provelege (discarding Emil to reveal Mob Mentality and Super Skrull, placing them both into his hand before passing his build.
Aaron sets a resource and recruits Nick Fury (see: SHAFT) Protecting Dr. Sivana and recruits Bullseye in the hidden area protecting Wasp.
COMBAT PHASE
JS sends Terra-Man into Iron Man for a mutual stun. Aaron reinforces with Dr. Sivana. Lex attacks Nick Fury for an uncontested stun. Mxy swings into Shimmer for a stunn then Black Bolt swings for a mutual stun into Dr Sivana. JS then plays Death of Superman from the row to KO Iron Man.
RECOVERY PHASE
JS recovers Terra-Man, KOing Black Bolt.
Aaron recovers Nick Fury, Koing Shimmer and Dr. Sivana.
Ultimate Fear -> 21 ...and the Horse you rode in on -> 27
TURN 6 (Aaron Initiative)
DRAW PHASE
Aaron Chains Triskelion (removing 0) to place The Underworld Star into his hand.
(Both Players draw 2 cards)
BUILD PHASE
Aaron sets a resource and flips Underworld Star (discarding Bullseye) To search for Dr. Light, recruiting him protected by Nick Fury.
Js sets a resource and recruits Super Skrull forming Skrull protecting Lex and Terra-Man protecting Mr/ Mxy with hope in the unprotected front row. he then activates Executive Privelege (discarding Terra-Man) revealing Mob mentality and Brainiac placing them both into JS' hand.
COMBAT PHASE
Aaron thinks for some time before sending Dr. Light into Terra-Man. Mt Mxy reinforces. Then Nick Fury attacks Hope for an easy stun. JS uses Hope's effect, KOing her to flip down Death of Superman. Unable to deal with the Super Skrull, Aaron Passes combat.
Without hesitation, JS sends Super Skrull into Dr. Light. Once legal, Aaron plays Cover Fire from his hand for +6 DEF. JS responds with Mob Mentality played from his hand. Knowing the KO is on it's way, Aaron flips up a second Triskelion (KOing the first to uniqueness, and activates it (removing 0 cards) to grab cover fire and play it again. JS concedes the stun and passes combat, (taking 0 stun from Skrull's cosmic effect)
RECOVERY PHASE
JS recovers Super Skrull, KOing Terra-Man.
Ultimate Fear -> 21 ...and the Horse you rode in on -> 20
TURN 7 (JS Initiative)
DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)
BUILD PHASE
Before setting his resource, JS activates Executive Privelege, (discarding Maxima) revealing Paibok and Lex Luthor, placing Lex into his hand and Paibok on the bottom of his deck. He then sets and flips Blinding Light and recruits Captain America and maxima, forming everyone into the front row.
Aaron sets a resource and flips up The Underworld Star, (discarding Psimon) to search for Iron Man, recruiting him in the support row protected by Dr. Light.
COMBAT PHASE
JS sends Captain America into Nick Fury. Aaron reinforces with Iron Man. Then Maxima swings into Iron Man for an uncontested stun thanks to Captain America. Super skrull declares into doc light but Aaron activates The Triskelion (removing 0 cards) to place Sleeper Cells into his hand. he plays it immediately, exhausting wasp, bullseye and Dr. Light to exhaust Super Skrull before his attack is legal. Undaunted, JS sends Lex into Dr. Light bolstered with Mob mentality for another uncontested stun before exhausting Mxy to Death of Superman to KO Dr. Light.
Game 1 ends with an upset!
HORSE WINS!
RECOVERY PHASE
Ultimate Fear -> -2 ...and the Horse you rode in on -> 20
POSTGAME THOUGHTS
Aaron Thoughts:
That Lex!
JS Thoughts:
I wasn't sure i could keep lex in play but his draws seemed lackluster so it worked out well.
GAME 2
As the loser of match 1, Aaron selects Odds for his initiative
Both players keep.
TURN 1 (Aaron Initiative)
DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)
BUILD PHASE
Aaron sets a resource and passes.
JS sets a resource and also passes.
COMBAT PHASE
Aaron stares blankly into the abyss. JS stares back. Entertained, Chthulhu slow claps.
RECOVERY PHASE
Ultimate Fear -> 50 ...and the Horse you rode in on -> 50
TURN 2 (JS Initiative)
DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)
BUILD PHASE
JS thinks for a moment and reluctantly recruits Atomic Skull after setting his resource.
Aaron sets a resource and recruits Wasp. Activating her to burn for 3 (Removing The Underworld Star, Iron Man, Triskelion, Dr. Sivana and Sleeper Cells)
COMBAT PHASE
Atomic Skull swings direct for 2.
RECOVERY PHASE
Ultimate Fear -> 48 ...and the Horse you rode in on -> 47
TURN 3 (Aaron Initiative)
DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)
BUILD PHASE
Aaron sets a resource, flips up Triskelion, and recruits Dr. Sivana in the support row before flipping up Forbidden Loyalties to team-up S.H.I.E.L.D. and Fearsome Five. Opting to discard an Entangled to place a +1/+1 counter on Dr. Sivana.
JS Sets a resource and flips to reveal warskrull. KOing it to place an Act of Defiance into his row before recruiting Wolverine, skruknucklehead protecting Atomic Skull. He flips up an act of Defiance to team-up Skrull and Revenge Squad.
COMBAT PHASE
Dr. Sivana swings into wolverine for the stun. JS reinforces with A-Skull. Wasp follows up and trades stuns with Atomic Skull.
RECOVERY PHASE
Aaron recovers Wasp.
JS recovers Atomic Skull, KOing Wolverine.
Ultimate Fear -> 47 ...and the Horse you rode in on -> 42
TURN 4 (JS Initiative)
DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)
BUILD PHASE
JS sets and flips executive privelege, using its effect (Discarding Emil Hamilton) revealing Captain America and a Mob Mentality placing them both into his hand. He sighs and recruits Ruin from his hand, forming him in front of Atomic Skull.
Happy to not see Maxima, Aaron sets a resource and recruits Iron Man, forming him behind Sivana.
COMBAT PHASE
JS flips up his remaining 2 face down cards Both Acts of Defiance! he teams up skrull with S.H.I.E.L.D. and then teams up Skrull with Fearsome Five. And sends Ruin into Iron Man. Before the attack is legal, Aaron responds playing Liberation Day from his row, (Removing Quicksilver from play) he then chains The Underworld Star playing it from the row (Discarding Lady Deathstrike) he then Chains Wasp, (removing The underworld Star, Sleeper Cells, Clint Barton, Shimmer and Press the attack)and Then chains The Triskelion, activating it (Removing Cover Fire and Bullseye from play)
Triskelion resolves first, placing Entangle into Aaron's hand, Wasp then burns JS for 3, Underworld Star resolves, placing Dr. Light into Aaron's Hand and finaly, Liberation Day, grabs Thor and places it into his hand.
Aaron finally plays Entangle, exhausting Ruin (discarding Thor) preventing the attack from becoming legal.
js then reveals lex in his hand to Atomic Skull's effect to Stun Wasp and passes combat.
Aaron Sends Dr. Sivana into Ruin for an easy stun. Ruin's effect KO's Executive Privelege to place and flip a battle for Metropolis.
RECOVERY PHASE
JS Recovers Ruin.
Aaron recovers Wasp.
Ultimate Fear -> 46 ...and the Horse you rode in on -> 35
TURN 5 (Aaron Initiative)
DRAW PHASE
Aaron chains Triskelion to the draw (removing Dr. Light) to place Bullseye into his hand.
(Both Players draw 2 cards)
BUILD PHASE
Aaron sets a resource and recruits Blade protecting Wasp and Bullseye in his support row next to Wasp.
JS sets reveals and KO's Warskrull to place his 4th and Final Act of Defiance in his resource row, flipping it to team up skrull with the Avengers. And recruits The ever-so-dominating Lex Luthor. Aaron chains to the recruit Bullseye's effect. Stunning Atomic Skull. JS forms Lex behind Ruin.
COMBAT PHASE
Not wanting to mess around, Aaron sends Iron Man into Emil. Lex Reinforces and Ruin Stuns, triggering his effect, KOing the avengers team-up for a second Battle for Metropolis. Continuing to play it safe, he swings Dr. Sivana, Blade, and Wasp into Lex. Lex stuns back Blade in the mutual stun.
RECOVERY PHASE
Aaron recovers Blade.
JS recovers Lex, KOing Ruin and Atomic Skull.
Ultimate Fear -> 43 ...and the Horse you rode in on -> 25
TURN 6 (JS Initiative)
DRAW PHASE
Aaron chains triskelion to the draw (removing 0 cards) to place Dr. Light into his hand.
(Both Players draw 2 cards)
BUILD PHASE
JS sets and flips Executive Privelege, using its effect (Discarding Captain America) to reveal Metallo and Executive Privilege placing them both into JS' hand. he then recruits Captain America, Warskrull and Hope, forming everyone into the front row.
Aaron sets a resource and recruits Dr. Light protecting Iron man. Hope then attacks Dr. Sivana for a stun.
COMBAT PHASE
JS sends lex Luthor into Dr. Light, stunning Dr. Light (triggering iron man's effect) then sending cap into Iron Man (at 10 ATK) Aaron reinforces with Sivana and Iron Man stuns. War Skrull then attacks direct with three Mob mentality's for 14 before JS passes.
Aaron passes combat.
RECOVERY PHASE
Dr. Light auto-recovers
Aaron recovers Iron Man, KOing Dr. Sivana.
Ultimate Fear -> 15 ...and the Horse you rode in on -> 25
TURN 7 (Aaron Initiative)
DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)
BUILD PHASE
Aaron sets a resource and recruits Psimon adjacent to Iron Man.
JS sets a resource and uses Executive Privilege's effect (discarding Warskrull) revealing Mobilize and Brainiac 13, placing Brainiac into his hand and sending mobilize tot he bottom of his deck. he forms Cap and Lex in the support row, protected by warskrull and Hope respectively. He then passes, unable to recruit or play anything due to Psimon's effect.
COMBAT PHASE
Aaron sends Iron Man into Hope for an easy stun. JS reinforces with Lex. Psimon then swings into Lex. Cap reinforces. Then Aaron activates Bullseye to stun warskrull before Dr. Light swings over Cap.
To follow up Blade swings direct for 5 and Wasp activates to burn for 3, ending the game.
RECOVERY PHASE
Ultimate Fear -> 15 ...and the Horse you rode in on -> -2
POSTGAME THOUGHTS
JS Thoughts:
Psymon destroyed me so hard, i almost scooped right there. Well played.
Aaron Thoughts:
Seems we both want odds in these games. next game will be rough.
GAME 3
Since JS lost last round he selects Odd initiatives.
JS keeps. Aaron Mulligans.
TURN 1 (JS Initiative)
DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)
BUILD PHASE
JS sets a resource and passes.
Aaron sets a resource and passes.
COMBAT PHASE
Both players wonder just how much wood a woodchuck CAN chuck.
RECOVERY PHASE
Ultimate Fear -> 50 ...and the Horse you rode in on -> 50
TURN 2 (Aaron Initiative)
DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)
BUILD PHASE
Aaron sets a resource and recruits Quicksilver.
JS sets a resource and recruits Brainiac 13 in the hidden area front row and flips up Battle for Metropolis.
COMBAT PHASE
Aaron attacks direct with Quicksilver for 2.
JS attacks and stuns Quicksilver with Brainiac triggering quicksilver going rfp until next turn.
RECOVERY PHASE
Ultimate Fear -> 47 ...and the Horse you rode in on -> 48
TURN 3 (JS Initiative)
DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)
BUILD PHASE
JS recruits Wolverine and free-recruits Mxy (since wolverine has all affiliations) forming them all in the front row.
Aaron sets a resource and Quicksilver returns to play in the front row. Aaron then flips up Triskelion and recruits Dr. Sivana, flipping up Forbidden Loyalties (discarding Dr. Sivana) to team-up S.H.I.E.L.D. and Fearsome Five, placing a +1/+1 counter on Dr. Sivana.
COMBAT PHASE
JS sends Mxy into Quicksilver stunning and removing it from play before sending Wolverine into Dr. Sivana for a mutual stun before sending Brainiac direct for 3.
RECOVERY PHASE
JS recovers Wolverine.
Aaron recovers Dr. Sivana.
Ultimate Fear -> 39 ...and the Horse you rode in on -> 45
TURN 4 (Aaron Initiative)
DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)
BUILD PHASE
Aaron sets a resource and recruits Iron man protected by Sivana while Quicksilver returns into play in the front row.
Js sets a resource and recruits Terra-Man before flipping up Blinding Light
COMBAT PHASE
Aaron sends Dr. Sivana into Wolverine for a mutual stun, triggering iron man's recovery effect. Iron Man attacks Terra-Man for an easy stun. Quicksilver swings into Mxy to return it to JS' hand before exhausting for Clint Barton's cost, removing Terra-Man from play.
JS swings brainiac into Quicksilver for an easy stun removing him from play until Aaron's next build.
RECOVERY PHASE
Dr. Sivana auto-recovers and gains a +1/+1 counter.
JS recovers Wolverine.
Ultimate Fear -> 33 ...and the Horse you rode in on -> 37
TURN 5 (JS Initiative)
DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)
BUILD PHASE
JS sets a resource and flips Battle for Metropolis, then recruits Lex Luthor in the front row beside Wolverine. before playing Mxy up front for free.
Aaron sets a resource and plays Blade in the hidden front row before recruiting Wasp behind him.
COMBAT PHASE
JS sends brainiac and Mxy into Dr. Sivana. sivana stuns back Brainiac in a mutual stun triggering Iron Man's effect. Wolverine then swings into Quicksilver stunning it while iron Man reinforces. (removing quicksilver from play again) Lex then swings over Iron Man with a Mob mentality played from the row for decent breakthrough on the one-sided stun
Aaron sends Blade into Wolverine for a mutual stun and passes.
RECOVERY PHASE
Dr. Sivana auto-recovers and gains a +1/+1 counter.
JS recovers Brainiac, KOing Wolverine.
Aaron recovers Iron Man, KOing Blade
Ultimate Fear -> 14 ...and the Horse you rode in on -> 31
TURN 6 (Aaron Initiative)
DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)
BUILD PHASE
Aaron sets a resource and recruits Dr. Light and recruits Life Model Decoy boosting for 0. Quicksilver returns to play. Aaron forms life model protecting Iron Man and Quicksilver protecting Dr. Light while Sivana sits unprotected adjacent to iron Man.
JS sets a resource, revealing Warskrull, KOing it for an Act of Defiance finally teaming-up Skrull and Revenge Squad before recruiting Paibok and Black Bolt. forming his hidden characters in the front row and protecting lex with Paibok while Mxy sits adjacent in the support row.
COMBAT PHASE
Aaron sends Sivana and Quicksilver into Paibok for a mutual stun with Paiboc stunning Sivana, triggering Iron Man's effect. Dr Light then swings into Mxy returning Mxy to JS' hand before sending him into Lex. Once legal, JS plays Death of Superman from his hand exhausting Lex to KO Dr. Sivana before settling for a one-sided stun. Wasp then activates to burn JS for 3 (Removing Nick Fury, Cover Fire, Press the attack, Shimmer and Wasp) Aaron then plays Clint Barton's effect from his hand, exhausting Life Model Decoy to remove Lex from the game. Afterwards, he activates Triskelion (removing 0 cards) to grab Clint Barton, playing it from his hand exhausting Iron man, to remove Paibok from the game before finally passing his combat phase.
JS sends Black Bolt into Life Model Decoy for 4 endurance loss (trigering Iron Man's effect) before sending brainiac into Quicksilver for 4 more damage.
RECOVERY PHASE
Life Model Decoy auto-recovers, gaining a +1/+1 counter
Ultimate Fear -> 3 ...and the Horse you rode in on -> 20
TURN 7 (JS Initiative)
DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)
BUILD PHASE
JS sets a resource and flips up executive privilege (discarding captain america) to reveal Blinding Light and Ruin placing them both into JS' hand. He then recruits Mxy for free, followed up with Captain America and Maxima forming everyone in the front row.
Aaron sets a resource, Quicksilver re-enters play in the frobnt row protecting Dr. Light. he activates Wasp, burning JS for 3 (removing Entangle, Bullseye, Clint Barton, The Underworld Star and Shimmer) Dr Light activates, stunning Maxima, then activating Sleeper Cells exhausting Iron Man, Life Model Decoy and Quicksilver to ready Dr. Light. Before activating Triskelion (removing 0 cards) to grab Shimmer. Aaron then plays The Underworld Star from his row (Discarding Shimmer) to fetch Thor, recruiting him and activating his effect. With 16 cards removed from play and 31 still in the deck JS selects to lose 16 Endurance. Aaron then flips up a second triskelion, KOing the first to uniqueness, activating it (removing 0 cards) to fetch Press the attack. and immediately playing it to ready Thor for another activation for 17 endurance loss to JS. Finally, Dr. Light activates, stunning Captain America.
At the end of the build, JS activates Brainiac's effect to drop Dr. Light's DEF by 7.
COMBAT PHASE
JS sends Mxy into Dr. Light for a stun and Black Bolt swings into Quicksilver for a mutual stun.
RECOVERY PHASE
Ultimate Fear -> -8 ...and the Horse you rode in on -> -24
ULTIMATE FEAR WINS THE SPRINGTIME SMACKDOWN!
POSTGAME THOUGHTS
JS Thoughts:
Both of us seemed to miss everything this last game, No team-up until turn 6 really cramped any early effectiveness Cap might have given me. Even with only a few Wasp activations Thor still hurts. A really fun game overall!
Aaron Thoughts:
Bad hands with timely KO options was enough to push the game in my favor and after barely squeaking by turn 6 on 3 endurance was able to secure some Thor activations. it was extremely interesting to see just how badly Lex shuts down this build.
Sunday, March 22, 2015
The Springtime Smackdown Finals: The matchup
With a best of three final, at first glance, it would seem that Ultimate Fear holds a decisive advantage, however, lets take a closer look at what both decks need to accomplish in order to succeed.
-Ultimate Fear- has a little bit of everything. A fantastic stall option, solid searchability, access to out of combat stuns, and a potent lategame win condition. With access to Clint Barton the build can remove any major threats to it's varying engines, and with several hidden options, Ultimate Fear can nerf Horse's early game giving it no characters to benefit from its team-up or an early Captain America. However, missed early drops will hurt Fear badly. If fear can make it to turn 7, it stands a solid chance to win.
-...and the Horse you rode in on- has some insane early game ramping bolstered by two gamebreaking Lex Luthors. Lex literally shuts down every character effect Fear brings to bear. If Horse can get Lex into play, and keep him alive, the game will then be decided on who can out-bully the other, and bullying is what Horse does best.
The game results will be up tonight. followed shortly afterwards with the written batreps and (Hopefully) i'll have a prepped video for you all soon.
To the betters out there, Good Luck!
-Ultimate Fear- has a little bit of everything. A fantastic stall option, solid searchability, access to out of combat stuns, and a potent lategame win condition. With access to Clint Barton the build can remove any major threats to it's varying engines, and with several hidden options, Ultimate Fear can nerf Horse's early game giving it no characters to benefit from its team-up or an early Captain America. However, missed early drops will hurt Fear badly. If fear can make it to turn 7, it stands a solid chance to win.
-...and the Horse you rode in on- has some insane early game ramping bolstered by two gamebreaking Lex Luthors. Lex literally shuts down every character effect Fear brings to bear. If Horse can get Lex into play, and keep him alive, the game will then be decided on who can out-bully the other, and bullying is what Horse does best.
The game results will be up tonight. followed shortly afterwards with the written batreps and (Hopefully) i'll have a prepped video for you all soon.
To the betters out there, Good Luck!
Wednesday, February 25, 2015
Semifinals Match report and betting pool update!
The semifinals proved to feature some really fun and exiting plays, but in the end, there could only be 2 winners:
Match 4AC
Burial Grounds entered this round, far and away the underdog favorite. It even seemed to have an early advantage until Steph chained a double Liberation Day to a Triskelion activation to ensure she'd be using those Trisks for the next few turns. On a defensive turn 6, Dr. light stopped a potentially fatal amount of attack pumps before Thor coupled with some favorable trades, sealed the game.
Secret Six Burial Grounds -> -18 Ultimate Fear -> 22
Match 4AD
With its remarkable access to KO effects Thunderworld was easily favored to take the win, however with a fortunate coin toss, Horse managed to secure odd initiatives and proceeded to... curve out. Dealing some heavy damage with its direct attacks throught the early game, Thunderworld was forced to rely on some... unique interactions to stay above 0 endurance but in the end, Horse managed to pull out the win.
...and the Horse you Rode in on -> 10 Thunderworld -> -8
With that, here are our updated betting pool leaders:
JSeb De L'aigle
-26pts
Luca Invernizz
Luca Invernizz
-23pts
Joseph Clark
Joseph Clark
-22pts
Robert Snyder
Robert Snyder
-20pts
Vern Le
Vern Le
-18pts
Hesed Ramos
Hesed Ramos
-16pts
John Viola
John Viola
-15pts
Brian Foley
Brian Foley
-15pts
Peter Hoettels
Peter Hoettels
-13pts
Daniel Lanier
Daniel Lanier
-13pts
Luke Johnson
Luke Johnson
-12pts
David Clement
David Clement
- 9pts
Joseph Sanchez
Joseph Sanchez
- 6pts
DJ Foley
DJ Foley
- 5pts
Glen D Preston
Glen D Preston
- 3pts
Jerry Donahue
Jerry Donahue
- 1pts
John Hornung
John Hornung
- 1pts
So the finals will be:
Ultimate Fear VS ...and the Horse you rode in on
The finals will be a best of 3 event. Naturally this opens some new variables for the betting options which will be explained later as we get closer to playing the games out. (we intend to record them with subtitled play-by-plays)SEMFINALS - Match 4AC - Secret Six Burial Grounds VS Ultimate Fear
Secret Six Burial Grounds
- Mark
VS
Ultimate Fear
- Steph
Steph wins the flip and elects to take odd initiatives.
mark Keeps. Steph mulligans.
TURN 1 (Steph Initiative)
DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)
BUILD PHASE
Steph sets a resource and passes her build.
Mark sets a resource and recruits Dr. Polaris in the hidden area.
COMBAT PHASE
Steph has no characters and passes combat.
Mark swings direct for 1.
RECOVERY PHASE
Secret Six Burial Grounds -> 50 Ultimate Fear -> 49
TURN 2 (Mark Initiative)
DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)
BUILD PHASE
Mark sets a resource and recruits Chemo in the hidden area.
Steph sets a resource and recruits Wasp. activating her effect to burn Mark for 3 (Removing 2x Clint Barton, quicksilver, Dr. Sivana and Liberation Day)
COMBAT PHASE
Mark swings direct with chemo and polaris for 2.
Steph passes.
RECOVERY PHASE
Secret Six Burial Grounds -> 47 Ultimate Fear -> 47
TURN 3 (Steph Initiative)
DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)
BUILD PHASE
Steph sets a resource and recruits Dr. Sivana in the visible area.
Mark sets a resource and flips up Master Plan from his row, discarding Deadshot for Master Plan's effect before electing to recruit poison Ivy from his hand rather than recruit from his KO pile. he then exhausts Ivy to place Deadshot into his hidden area.
COMBAT PHASE
Steph swings Dr Sivana into Poison ivy, passing Once legal. Mark responds powering up Ivy. Steph responds flipping up triskelion, and chaining the Underworld star (Discarding Shimmer) mark immediately activates Chemo's effect, KOing it to replace Triskelion. Steph responds playing Liberation day from her Row (Removing from play Clint Barton) and then chains another another Liberation day from her hand (Removing Thor) before finally chaining Triskelion's effect (Removing Cover Fire). The substantial chain resolves:
Triskelion grabs Clint Barton, Lib day grabs a Triskelion (It has the version Ultimates!) the other Lib day, grabs another Triskelion, placing it into her hand. Chemo's effect resolves, replacing Triskelion, and finally Underworld Star resolves, placing Dr. Sivana into her hand. where she powers up her attacker.
Mark has no follow-up and Ivy stuns.
Steph plays Clint from her hand, removing it from play and exhausting Wasp to remove Ivy from play. Mark passes.
RECOVERY PHASE
Secret Six Burial Grounds -> 44 Ultimate Fear -> 49
TURN 4 (Mark Initiative)
DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)
BUILD PHASE
Mark sets a resource and flips Hidden HQ, activating it (Sending Ragdoll to the KO pile) before playing his recently set Forced Conscription from his row (Sending Slaughter Swamp, Dr. Sivana and straight to the grave, returning Poison Ivy to his hand and recruiting her in teh visible front row.
Steph sets a resource, reservist recruiting Blade from her row into the hidden area protecting Wasp replacing the resource with one from her hand.
COMBAT PHASE
Ivy puts Chemo into the hidden front row.
Mark attacks with Deadshot into Dr. Sivana, playing path of destruction from his hand. Steph passes and the both stun. Then he sends Polaris and Chemo direct for 2, before attacking direct with Ivy for 4.
Steph responds sending Blade into Chemo for an easy stun. playing Clint barton's effect from the hand, to remove Chemo from the game.
RECOVERY PHASE
Mark recovers Deadshot.
Steph recovers Dr. Sivana
Secret Six Burial Grounds -> 38 Ultimate Fear -> 40
TURN 5 (Steph Initiative)
DRAW PHASE
Steph chains Wasp's burn effect to the draw,(removing iron Man, Lady Deathstrike, The Underworld Star, Forbidden Loyalties and Quicksliver) then chaining Triskelion (Removing Blade from play) placing Forbidden Loyalties into her hand.
Mark responds with HIdden HQ before the draw. (Sending Hidden HQ to the Ko pile)
(Both Players draw 2 cards)
BUILD PHASE
Steph sets and flips Forbidden Loyalties (Opting not to discard) teaming up S.H.I.E.L.D. and Fearsome Five. recruiting Shimmer protecting Dr. Sivana, and Nick Fury adjacent to Sivana inteh support row.
Mark sets a resource, flipping up Straight to the Grave (sending Black Manta and Path of Destruction to his KO pile.) And then plays a second one from his hand (Sending Chemo and Path of Destruction to the KO pile.) before discarding Chemo to Master Plan's effect, recruiting Black Manta from the KO pile. Forming it behind Poison Ivy.
COMBAT PHASE
Ivy places Chemo into play in the hidden area.
Steph activates Shimmer, exhausting all five of mark's characters, he KO's Chemo spitefully replacing Triskelion. and declares Nick Fury into Poison Ivy. Once legal, using his effect (removing Forbidden Loyalties, 2x wasp, sleeper cells, and iron Man) to be unstunnable this attack. Stunning Ivy easily. Then Blade and Sivana Team attack Black Manta. Mark uses Black Manta's effect to place a Path of Destruction into his hand before stunning back Blade.
RECOVERY PHASE
Steph recovers Blade.
Mark recovers Black Manta, KOing Poison Ivy.
Secret Six Burial Grounds -> 23 Ultimate Fear -> 37
TURN 6 (Mark Initiative)
DRAW PHASE
Mark chains Hidden HQ to the draw (sending Dr. Polaris to the KO pile)
(Both Players draw 2 cards)
BUILD PHASE
Mark sets a resource and recruits Poison Ivy protecting Black Manta, he discards Deadshot to Master Plan's effect, recruiting Chemo into his hidden front row protecting Deadshot.
Steph sets a resource, playing The Underworld Star from her row. (Discarding Bullseye) She then flips and chains Triskelion's effect (removing 0 cards) to place Sleeper Cells into her hand before resolving her search placing Dr. Light into her hand and recruiting him protecting Nick Fury.
COMBAT PHASE
Poison Ivy places Chemo into Mark's hidden front row protecting Dr. Polaris.
Mark declares Dr. Polaris into Dr. Sivana. once legal, playing path of destruction from his resource row, chaining Chemo's effect KOing chemo to replace it for a +8ATK pump. Steph reinforces with Nick Fury and allows the mutual stun. Next Deadshot declares into Dr. Light. Once Legal, mark plays his final Path of destruction from his row, chaining Chemo #2 to replace it for a +10ATK pump. Steph thinks for a while before finally activating Dr. Light, targetting Black Manta. Black Manta responds, to fetch a path of destruction, and Steph plays Sleeper Cells exhausting Blade, Wasp and Shimmer to ready Dr. Light, activating him a second time to stun Deadshot out of the attack. Mark then sends Poison Ivy into Shimmer playing Path for +8.
RECOVERY PHASE
Mark recovers Black Manta, KOing Deadshot and Dr. Polaris.
Steph recovers Shimmer, KOing Dr. Sivana.
Secret Six Burial Grounds -> 14 Ultimate Fear -> 22
TURN 7 (Steph Initiative)
DRAW PHASE
Steph chains Triskelion to the draw (Removing 0 cards) to place Thor into her hand.
Mark chains Hidden HQ to the draw. (sending Deadshot to the KO pile)
(Both Players draw 2 cards)
BUILD PHASE
Steph sets a resource and recruits Thor Behind Shimmer and passes.
Mark sets a resource and recruits Ragdoll and Catman. Exhausting Ivy to place deadshot into play from his effect.
COMBAT PHASE
Ivy places Chemo into play in the hidden front row.
Steph activates Shimmer, exhausting Mark's Board and activates Thor, with 22 cards left in her deck and 20 cards removed from the game, Mark selects the RFP pile and burns for 20. Dr. Light activates to stun Black Manta. Nick Fury attacks Poison Ivy, Once legal, using his effect to be unstunnable. (Removing Iron Man, Wasp, Forbidden Loyalties, Lady Deathstrike and Dr. Light) stunning Ivy. Wasp then activates for 3 burn. (Removing The Underworld Star, Life Model decoy, Psimon, Bullseye, and Shimmer)
It's all over!
RECOVERY PHASE
Secret Six Burial Grounds -> -18 Ultimate Fear -> 22
Ultimate Fear advances to the finals!
POSTGAME THOUGHTS
Mark Thoughts:
"Being stuck playing evens, all I could hope for was Starving her from Triskelions, and hoping to see her missing Dr. Light on 6. It didn't happen though, and what could have been 28 ATK worth of Path of Destructions became 8. Funny story though, missing my teamups really didn't affect anything I wanted to do this game! Haha! Using the Liberation days to load up on Triskelion's was a pretty shnazzy way to play around Chemo."
Steph Thoughts:
"Normally I have fun playing this deck, but this game made my head hurt. I felt like the entire game was a chain and keeping that straight can be rough."
SEMIFINALS - Match 4AD - ...and the horse you rode in on VS Thunderworld
...and the Horse you Rode in on
- Josh
VS
Thunderworld
- Lee
Josh wins the flip and selects Odd initiatives.
Both players Mulligan.
TURN 1 (Josh Initiative)
DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)
BUILD PHASE
Josh sets a resource, revealing War Skrull, KOing it and placing an Act of Defiance face down in his row. He then recruits Hope in the front row.
Lee sets a resource and passes.
COMBAT PHASE
Hope swings direct for 2.
RECOVERY PHASE
...and the Horse you Rode in on -> 50 Thunderworld -> 48
TURN 2 (Lee Initiative)
DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)
BUILD PHASE
Lee sets a resource and flips up The Dark Dimension (Sending The Dwarf, Radioactive Man and Queen Lilith to the KO pile, returning Queen Lilith to his hand. He then recruits The Dwarf in the hidden area and Discards a second Dwarf to fetch Ritual Sacrifice, and place it into his hand before passing his build.
Josh sets a resource and recruits War Skrull into his front row, flipping up Act of defiance to team up Skrull and Revenge Squad. then flipping another to team up skrull and Underworld.
COMBAT PHASE
Lee sends The Dwarf into Hope for a mutual stun.
Josh sends Warskrull direct for 3.
RECOVERY PHASE
Josh recovers Hope.
...and the Horse you Rode in on -> 49 Thunderworld -> 46
TURN 3 (Josh Initiative)
DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)
BUILD PHASE
Josh sets a resource and recruits Professor Emil Hamiltion <> Ruin in the front row
Lee sets a resource and recruits Lilith in the hidden front row adjacent to The Dwarf.
COMBAT PHASE
Josh attacks direct with everything.
Lee sends Queen Lilith into Warskrull. Once legal, looking at the top 3 cards, placing one on top of his deck and then sending Blackheart and Queen Lilith to the KO pile. warskrull stuns. Then He sends The Dwarf into Hope for a mutual stun.
RECOVERY PHASE
Josh recovers Warskrull, KOing Hope.
Lee recovers The Dwarf.
...and the Horse you Rode in on -> 43 Thunderworld -> 36
TURN 4 (Lee Initiative)
DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)
BUILD PHASE
Lee sets a resource and recruits Blackheart in the hidden area protected by Queen Lilith.
Josh sets a resource and recruits Maxima, protected by War Skrull, leaving Ruin in the unprotected front row.
COMBAT PHASE
Lee activates Blackheart, (Moving Queen Lilith, Rad man, and a Dwarf to the bottom of his deck) to KO Ruin. Lilith attacks Warskrull. Once legal, using her effect to look at the top 3, place a card on top of his deck and send Strange Love and Green Goblin to the KO pile, stunning warskrull before passing.
Josh swings direct with Maxima, once legal, playing Mob mentality on her from the row for 12 direct. (1 resource still face down)
RECOVERY PHASE
Josh recovers War Skrull.
...and the Horse you Rode in on -> 38 Thunderworld -> 24
TURN 5 (Josh Initiative)
DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)
BUILD PHASE
Josh sets a resource, revealing War Skrull, KOing it and placing an Act of Defiance face down in his row. Flipping it up and teaming up Skrull and Hellfire CLub (From Blackheart). He then recruits Paibok forming warskrull in front of it, with Maxima unprotected in the support row.
Lee sets a resource and recruits Green Goblin in the hidden area and recruiting Lady Deathstrike visible. He then flips up Ritual Sacrifice, teaming up Underworld and Thunderbolts before flipping up Dark Dimension (Sending Death's Embrace, Shathra and Ritual Sacrifice to the KO pile.) Opting to return The Dwarf to his hand, immediately discardingit to place Ritual Sacrifice into hishand from his deck.
COMBAT PHASE
Josh swings War Skrull into Lady Deathstrike. Lee activates Blackheart, (moving Shathra, Blackheart, and Green Goblin to the bottom of his deck) KOing WarSkrull.
Undanted, Josh sends Maxima into Lady Deathstrike, with +4 ATk from his face up ongoings and an extra +2 ATK from Paibok, Lee decides to stem the damage, powering up Lady Deathstrike before passing on the mutual stun. Josh then swings Paibok direct for 9.
Already in the red zone, Lee uses Ritual Sacrifice's effect (Moving Lady Deathstrike to the bottom of his deck) to gain 1 endurance. With no way to stun Paibox with 7 total attack on the field, Lee flips up two New Identity, having each one target Blackheart.
RECOVERY PHASE
Blackheart gains two +1/+1 counters from the new Identities.
Josh recovers Maxima.
Lee recovers Lady Deathstrike.
...and the Horse you Rode in on -> 34 Thunderworld -> 7
TURN 6 (Lee Initiative)
DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)
BUILD PHASE
Lee sets a resource and recruits Madelyne Pryor in the hidden area.
Josh sets a resource and plays Mobilize from his hand (Discarding Black Bolt) to search for Super Skrull, noble sacrifice and recruits it protecting paibok. he then forms Maxima in the front row.
COMBAT PHASE
Lee surveys the field. Some heavy atk values there for sure. he opts to team swing Blackheart and The Dwarf into Super Skrull (invulnerable from his cosmic effect.) Super Skrull exchanges stuns with Blackheart. Then Madelyn Pryor attacks Paibok, Paibok exhausts to play Death of Superman from Josh's row to KO Blackheart before allowing the one-sided stun. Lee then activates Lady Deathstrike, returning her to his hand to ready the Goblyn queen. He then sends Queen Lilith into Maxima. Once legal she checks the top three cards, places one on the top of Lee's deck and sends The Dwarf and Rad Man to the KO pile. He activates Green Goblin, stunning it to place a +1/+1 counter on Lilith and powers her up for 7 Atk onto the 7 DEF Maxima...
Josh powers Maxima up. Uh-Oh.
Lee sighs, and plays Death's Embrace from his hand, (Discarding Speedball is Dead) and chains Ritual Sacrifice (placing a Queen Lilith to the bottom of his deck) and resolves the search, sending a Lilith to the KO pile and placing one into his hand, then after resolving the search, gaining 1 endurance. and powering up Lilith. Landing the clutch mutual stun.
Finally, Madelyne Pryor swings direct for 12 and detonates her cosmic counter. Moving her visible and KOing all stunned characters in play. Leaving only Her and The dwarf in play, wiping Josh's field.
Lee then flips up a second Ritual Sacrifice, (sending Shathra to the bottom of his deck) to gain one endurance with a laugh.
RECOVERY PHASE
...and the Horse you Rode in on -> 10 Thunderworld -> 1
TURN 7 (Josh Initiative)
DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)
BUILD PHASE
Josh sets a resource, flipping up Executive Privelege, and using its effect (Discarding Hope) to reveal Brainiac 13 and Mob Mentality. placing them both into his hand. He then recruits Brainiac, Terra-Man, and Captain America, forming them all into his front row.
Lee sets a resource and recruits Lady Deathstrike and Rad Man, forming Rad Man, protected by Deathstrike, and leaving Madelyne inthe unprotected support row.
At the end of the build phase, Josh flips up Battle for Metropolis (7 face-up ongoings) and activates Brainiac's backup effect targeting Madelyne. Making her a 12/6.
COMBAT PHASE
Josh sends Captain America into Madelyne for the stun. Lee opts to not reinforce with Rad man and takes 9. Then Josh sends Terra-man into Rad Man, playing Mob Mentality from his hand for a 16 ATK 2 drop. Lee plays Strange Love from his hand, (Discarding Noble Kale) to recover Madelyne, then activates Lady Deathstrike's effect returning her to Lee's hand to ready Madelyne and reinforce Radioactive Man. Stopping 13 Breakthrough. He then flips a third Ritual sacrifice and activates all 3 (Sending Kale, Lilith and Blackheart) to gain 3 endurance But it isn't enough.
RECOVERY PHASE
...and the Horse you Rode in on -> 10 Thunderworld -> -8
Horse advances to the finals!
POSTGAME THOUGHTS
Lee Thoughts:
"The thing about having a 4 drop KOing 3 drops and under is that you are also sacrificing the 4 drop attack. I wasnt expecting to face a solid curve, that Super Skrull on 6 suprised the hell out of me. While I felt like a good turn 7 Shuma Gorath or defensive blackheart could have saved me, being forced into the search to stay alive on 6 was a hard pill to swallow. Considering Shadowpact seems to enjoy the brink of endurance more, I have to say, Underworld can do it pretty good too!"
Josh Thoughts:
"All game long, I was sitting on that damn Cap, thinking I'd never have a shot to play it. Glad I didn't ditch him for that turn 6 mobilize!"
- Josh
VS
Thunderworld
- Lee
Josh wins the flip and selects Odd initiatives.
Both players Mulligan.
TURN 1 (Josh Initiative)
DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)
BUILD PHASE
Josh sets a resource, revealing War Skrull, KOing it and placing an Act of Defiance face down in his row. He then recruits Hope in the front row.
Lee sets a resource and passes.
COMBAT PHASE
Hope swings direct for 2.
RECOVERY PHASE
...and the Horse you Rode in on -> 50 Thunderworld -> 48
TURN 2 (Lee Initiative)
DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)
BUILD PHASE
Lee sets a resource and flips up The Dark Dimension (Sending The Dwarf, Radioactive Man and Queen Lilith to the KO pile, returning Queen Lilith to his hand. He then recruits The Dwarf in the hidden area and Discards a second Dwarf to fetch Ritual Sacrifice, and place it into his hand before passing his build.
Josh sets a resource and recruits War Skrull into his front row, flipping up Act of defiance to team up Skrull and Revenge Squad. then flipping another to team up skrull and Underworld.
COMBAT PHASE
Lee sends The Dwarf into Hope for a mutual stun.
Josh sends Warskrull direct for 3.
RECOVERY PHASE
Josh recovers Hope.
...and the Horse you Rode in on -> 49 Thunderworld -> 46
TURN 3 (Josh Initiative)
DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)
BUILD PHASE
Josh sets a resource and recruits Professor Emil Hamiltion <> Ruin in the front row
Lee sets a resource and recruits Lilith in the hidden front row adjacent to The Dwarf.
COMBAT PHASE
Josh attacks direct with everything.
Lee sends Queen Lilith into Warskrull. Once legal, looking at the top 3 cards, placing one on top of his deck and then sending Blackheart and Queen Lilith to the KO pile. warskrull stuns. Then He sends The Dwarf into Hope for a mutual stun.
RECOVERY PHASE
Josh recovers Warskrull, KOing Hope.
Lee recovers The Dwarf.
...and the Horse you Rode in on -> 43 Thunderworld -> 36
TURN 4 (Lee Initiative)
DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)
BUILD PHASE
Lee sets a resource and recruits Blackheart in the hidden area protected by Queen Lilith.
Josh sets a resource and recruits Maxima, protected by War Skrull, leaving Ruin in the unprotected front row.
COMBAT PHASE
Lee activates Blackheart, (Moving Queen Lilith, Rad man, and a Dwarf to the bottom of his deck) to KO Ruin. Lilith attacks Warskrull. Once legal, using her effect to look at the top 3, place a card on top of his deck and send Strange Love and Green Goblin to the KO pile, stunning warskrull before passing.
Josh swings direct with Maxima, once legal, playing Mob mentality on her from the row for 12 direct. (1 resource still face down)
RECOVERY PHASE
Josh recovers War Skrull.
...and the Horse you Rode in on -> 38 Thunderworld -> 24
TURN 5 (Josh Initiative)
DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)
BUILD PHASE
Josh sets a resource, revealing War Skrull, KOing it and placing an Act of Defiance face down in his row. Flipping it up and teaming up Skrull and Hellfire CLub (From Blackheart). He then recruits Paibok forming warskrull in front of it, with Maxima unprotected in the support row.
Lee sets a resource and recruits Green Goblin in the hidden area and recruiting Lady Deathstrike visible. He then flips up Ritual Sacrifice, teaming up Underworld and Thunderbolts before flipping up Dark Dimension (Sending Death's Embrace, Shathra and Ritual Sacrifice to the KO pile.) Opting to return The Dwarf to his hand, immediately discardingit to place Ritual Sacrifice into hishand from his deck.
COMBAT PHASE
Josh swings War Skrull into Lady Deathstrike. Lee activates Blackheart, (moving Shathra, Blackheart, and Green Goblin to the bottom of his deck) KOing WarSkrull.
Undanted, Josh sends Maxima into Lady Deathstrike, with +4 ATk from his face up ongoings and an extra +2 ATK from Paibok, Lee decides to stem the damage, powering up Lady Deathstrike before passing on the mutual stun. Josh then swings Paibok direct for 9.
Already in the red zone, Lee uses Ritual Sacrifice's effect (Moving Lady Deathstrike to the bottom of his deck) to gain 1 endurance. With no way to stun Paibox with 7 total attack on the field, Lee flips up two New Identity, having each one target Blackheart.
RECOVERY PHASE
Blackheart gains two +1/+1 counters from the new Identities.
Josh recovers Maxima.
Lee recovers Lady Deathstrike.
...and the Horse you Rode in on -> 34 Thunderworld -> 7
TURN 6 (Lee Initiative)
DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)
BUILD PHASE
Lee sets a resource and recruits Madelyne Pryor in the hidden area.
Josh sets a resource and plays Mobilize from his hand (Discarding Black Bolt) to search for Super Skrull, noble sacrifice and recruits it protecting paibok. he then forms Maxima in the front row.
COMBAT PHASE
Lee surveys the field. Some heavy atk values there for sure. he opts to team swing Blackheart and The Dwarf into Super Skrull (invulnerable from his cosmic effect.) Super Skrull exchanges stuns with Blackheart. Then Madelyn Pryor attacks Paibok, Paibok exhausts to play Death of Superman from Josh's row to KO Blackheart before allowing the one-sided stun. Lee then activates Lady Deathstrike, returning her to his hand to ready the Goblyn queen. He then sends Queen Lilith into Maxima. Once legal she checks the top three cards, places one on the top of Lee's deck and sends The Dwarf and Rad Man to the KO pile. He activates Green Goblin, stunning it to place a +1/+1 counter on Lilith and powers her up for 7 Atk onto the 7 DEF Maxima...
Josh powers Maxima up. Uh-Oh.
Lee sighs, and plays Death's Embrace from his hand, (Discarding Speedball is Dead) and chains Ritual Sacrifice (placing a Queen Lilith to the bottom of his deck) and resolves the search, sending a Lilith to the KO pile and placing one into his hand, then after resolving the search, gaining 1 endurance. and powering up Lilith. Landing the clutch mutual stun.
Finally, Madelyne Pryor swings direct for 12 and detonates her cosmic counter. Moving her visible and KOing all stunned characters in play. Leaving only Her and The dwarf in play, wiping Josh's field.
Lee then flips up a second Ritual Sacrifice, (sending Shathra to the bottom of his deck) to gain one endurance with a laugh.
RECOVERY PHASE
...and the Horse you Rode in on -> 10 Thunderworld -> 1
TURN 7 (Josh Initiative)
DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)
BUILD PHASE
Josh sets a resource, flipping up Executive Privelege, and using its effect (Discarding Hope) to reveal Brainiac 13 and Mob Mentality. placing them both into his hand. He then recruits Brainiac, Terra-Man, and Captain America, forming them all into his front row.
Lee sets a resource and recruits Lady Deathstrike and Rad Man, forming Rad Man, protected by Deathstrike, and leaving Madelyne inthe unprotected support row.
At the end of the build phase, Josh flips up Battle for Metropolis (7 face-up ongoings) and activates Brainiac's backup effect targeting Madelyne. Making her a 12/6.
COMBAT PHASE
Josh sends Captain America into Madelyne for the stun. Lee opts to not reinforce with Rad man and takes 9. Then Josh sends Terra-man into Rad Man, playing Mob Mentality from his hand for a 16 ATK 2 drop. Lee plays Strange Love from his hand, (Discarding Noble Kale) to recover Madelyne, then activates Lady Deathstrike's effect returning her to Lee's hand to ready Madelyne and reinforce Radioactive Man. Stopping 13 Breakthrough. He then flips a third Ritual sacrifice and activates all 3 (Sending Kale, Lilith and Blackheart) to gain 3 endurance But it isn't enough.
RECOVERY PHASE
...and the Horse you Rode in on -> 10 Thunderworld -> -8
Horse advances to the finals!
POSTGAME THOUGHTS
Lee Thoughts:
"The thing about having a 4 drop KOing 3 drops and under is that you are also sacrificing the 4 drop attack. I wasnt expecting to face a solid curve, that Super Skrull on 6 suprised the hell out of me. While I felt like a good turn 7 Shuma Gorath or defensive blackheart could have saved me, being forced into the search to stay alive on 6 was a hard pill to swallow. Considering Shadowpact seems to enjoy the brink of endurance more, I have to say, Underworld can do it pretty good too!"
Josh Thoughts:
"All game long, I was sitting on that damn Cap, thinking I'd never have a shot to play it. Glad I didn't ditch him for that turn 6 mobilize!"
Monday, February 23, 2015
Semifinals Match Breakdowns!
Welcome to the Semifinals Match previews!
Firstly, today we feature a real David and Goliath match-up where on one side, we have a deck toting the largest winning average of the event matches so far, squaring off against the "Better Lucky than Good" titan-slaying Secret Society Hybrid.
Where do we even begin? Lets start!
Match 4AC:
Secret Six Burial Grounds VS Ultimate Fear
The Favorite:
Averaging 35½ MORE points per game than its opponent, Ultimate Fear has a-lot going for it here. To secure the win, it's going to have to really put a focus into stopping Poison Ivy by getting her off the field with Clint Barton's effect. But even without Clint, playing Blade on 3 will put pressure into the underdog's hidden area in a way it hasn't been exposed to before, while even something as simple as securing odd initiatives can stretch the game to a favorable defensive turn 6 with Dr. Light hopefully securing one or two key stuns before the game can be closed out.
The Underdog :
It really seems, that the more difficult the match-up, the better Burial Grounds seems to do, be it luck, planning, piloting, or divine providence, it always seems to manage to push back just a little harder than its opponent. So what does it have to do to help its chances at making the finals?
-Firstly, Dr. Polaris needs to come out by mid-game. As the only character in the deck with flight he is going to be crucial to Burial Grounds' ability to ignore formations and get to that protected Iron Man.
-Chemo needs to snipe Triskelion. Ultimate Fear secures its late game with Triskelion activations to fish what it wants. Who knows? he might get lucky and bury a clutch drop.
-Lastly, it is going to need luck. Both builds enjoy loading up the hidden area and while Burial Grounds can whip out a repeatable +10 ATK Pump, Ultimate Fear can dig for a substantial DEF pump in cover fire as well.
While much of this game may be dictated largely to initiative results, down is not out in either of these builds. Watch for some clutch plays on turn 5-6 regardless of who's initiative it is.
However the decks aren't the ONLY thing affecting the game outcome! For this round Pilots were asked to choose the deck they wished to play. (with the exception of Aaron and JS who will pilot the final 2 decks in a best of three showdown) For this round, Mark really wanted to pilot Burial Grounds, while Steph had so much fun with Ultimate Fear last round, she wanted to run it again!
Here are your lines for this match!
Secret Six Burial Grounds
Pilot - Mark
VS
Ultimate Fear (Favored to Win by 35½)
Pilot - Steph
Pilot - Mark
VS
Ultimate Fear (Favored to Win by 35½)
Pilot - Steph
Match 4AD:
...and the Horse you Rode in on VS Thunderworld
With the unexpected defeat of HULK LOVE MAGIC, Thunderworld is striding into the finals as heavy favorites over the deck affectionately referred to as "Horse" for short. Lets take a closer look at:
The Favorite:
Thunderworlds heavy attrition towards all characters with a cost of 3 or less leaves it in an extremely favorable position in this matchup. The key will be in Thunderworld's ability to keep its KO pile fueled for Blackheart to keep on ruining Horse's day. If benefitting from a turn 5 initiative Thanos may become the final nail in the coffin for the underdropping competitor.
The Underdog:
Being forced to climb such a steep hill to remain effective, Horse does have an out, in that it has the ability to curve to 6, and that Thunderworld has no resource manipulation it can bring to bear. it absolutely NEEDS odd initiatives while curving out, specifically hitting Lex to finally lockdown Blackheart and Bullseye, and taking full advantage of Brainiac on 6 to KO problematic characters.
Lee had first pick when it came to the 4 available decks and he picked Thunderworld. That is saying quite a bit considering his lackluster win ratios. He certainly wants to prove himself and hammer home a win!
Once again Josh finds himself piloting Horse, and it is just as well as once more, he is playing the underdog. Does he have what it takes?
Here are your Lines for this match!
...and the Horse you Rode in on
Pilot - Josh
VS
Thunderworld (Favored to win by 8½)
Pilot - Lee
Pilot - Josh
VS
Thunderworld (Favored to win by 8½)
Pilot - Lee
Sunday, February 22, 2015
Round 3 Report!
WELL HOLY JUMPIN SNOTBALLS!
What a week this was!
This week was full of upsets and solid play from some our underdog builds! So lets get into it shall we?
Match 3Y
Admiral Wolverine Lightning-bolt was a nearly unanimous favorite to take down our favorite little underdog contender in the top 8, but alas! Even the Admiral gets a bad draw. And Secret 6 and friends were ready to step up in a BIG way mustering themselves a HUGE upset win and moving on to the top 4! Absolutely INSANE work for the little deck that could! Is there a ceiling to this deck's good fortune?
Admiral Wolverine Lightning-bolt -9 - Secret Six Burial Grounds 6
Match 3Z
With easy access to Batman's disruption it certainly seemed like League of Doom had all the right tools to take care of Ultimate Fear, but a timely Clint Barton seemed to turn the game around enabling Shimmer's stall tactics. Thor managed to activate 4 times in a row on turn 7 for 84 endurance loss, sealing the deal for the win.
League of Doom -75 - Ultimate Fear -23
Match 3AA
Prey on the weak went all-in on turn 5 hoping to close the deal on a solid counter-swing on turn 6, but even the infamous triple Savage Land activation wasn't enough to mitigate a fantastic turn 6 play by Josh as the Horse managed to advance again.
Prey on the Weak -40 - ...and the Horse you Rode in on -28
Match 3AB
With only 4 games this week, you would think that there would only be ONE underdog blowout. But nobody could have predicted the fall of the Hulk from this little contest! An 8 drop Hulk unable to detonate stood idly by as Noble Kale swung direct twice for the win!
Thunderworld -4 - HULK LOVE MAGIC -27
Stay tuned for match breakdowns of our top 4 decks, Listed Faves to win, and thoughts regarding key cards and strategies of what each build needs to do to pull out the win and get to the finals!
Match 3Y - Admiral Wolverine Lightning-bolt VS Secret Six Burial Grounds
Admiral Wolverine Lightning-bolt
- JS
VS
Secret Six Burial Grounds
- Aaron
Aaron wins the flip and selects odd initiatives
JS Mulligans. Aaron Keeps.
TURN 1 (Aaron Initiative)
DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)
BUILD PHASE
Aaron sets a resource and recruits Chemo hidden.
JS sets a resource and recruits Anti-Green Lantern hidden.
COMBAT PHASE
Aaron swings for 1.
JS swings for 4
RECOVERY PHASE
AGL KO's from its effect.
Admiral Wolverine Lightning-bolt -> 49 Secret Six Burial Grounds -> 46
TURN 2 (JS Initiative)
DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)
BUILD PHASE
JS sets a resource and recruits two AGL's.
Aaron sets a resource and recruits Dr. Sivana in the hidden front row.
COMBAT PHASE
JS attacks with everything direct for 8.
Aaron attacks with Chemo and activates Sivana drawing a card, (Discarding Poison Ivy, Intoxicating)
RECOVERY PHASE
JS sighs as both his AGL's KO.
Admiral Wolverine Lightning-bolt -> 48 Secret Six Burial Grounds -> 38
TURN 3 (Aaron Initiative)
DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)
BUILD PHASE
Aaron activates Sivana, drawing a card (Discarding Deadshot) then sets a resource, recruiting Poison Ivy and immediately exhausting her to place Deadshot into the hidden area Behid Chemo from his effect. Aaron then flips up A Day Unlike Any Other, teaming up Secret Six and Secret Society.
JS sets a resource, thinks for some time and ultimately decides to flip up two Negative Zone, seat of annihilation, (Discarding two AGLs) He then recruits Xallarap hidden.
COMBAT PHASE
Aaron declares a direct attack with Chemo, playing a path of destruction from his hand for 3 direct. Then Goes direct with Deadshot, playing Path of destruction from the row and chaining Chemo's effect to KO it for a total of 9 direct. Aaron then flips the replaced resource, activating Hidden HQ (Sending Black Manta to the KO pile.
JS responds with Xallarap swinging over Poison Ivy for 8.
RECOVERY PHASE
Xallarap KOs to his effect
Both of JS' negative ZOne's each trigger a draw.
Aaron recovers Poison Ivy
Admiral Wolverine Lightning-bolt -> 36 Secret Six Burial Grounds -> 30
TURN 4 (JS Initiative)
DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)
BUILD PHASE
JS sets a resource and recruits Xallarap.
Aaron sets a resource and activates Dr. Sivana drawing a card (Discarding Ragdoll) he then activates Hidden HQ (Sending Poison Ivy to the KO pile) before playing Forced COnscription from his hand (Sending Chemo, Catman, and Dr. Sivana to the KO pile) and returning Catman to his hand.
Aaron then recruits Catman and Dr. Polaris in the hidden area with catman protecting Polaris.
COMBAT PHASE
Poison Ivy places Chemo into the hidden area.
JS swings Xallarap into Ivy, playing thunderous Onslaught from his row to move the 9/9 attacker into the visible support row and grant it +2ATK. before playing Megablast from the row, another from his hand, followed with a flying Kick. for huge damage.
Aaron is forced to ponder... Attack and stun it while sending the rest through? or pass and watch it KO? Aaron eventually opts for board control and passes combat
RECOVERY PHASE
Xallarap KOs to his effect.
Both of JS' negative ZOne's each trigger a draw.
Aaron Recovers Poison Ivy.
Admiral Wolverine Lightning-bolt -> 36 Secret Six Burial Grounds -> 9
TURN 5 (Aaron Initiative)
DRAW PHASE
Aaron chains HIdden HQ to his draw. (Sending A Day Unlike any Other to the KO pile)
(Both Players draw 2 cards)
BUILD PHASE
Aaron sets a resource and recruits Black Manta behind Poison Ivy.
JS sets a resource and recruits Slipstream in the hidden area and an AGL hidden as well, lamenting his lack of Chomins this game.
before moving to combat, Aaron activates Dr. Sivana, Drawing a card.(Discarding a slaughter Swamp) and then plays Straight to the Grave. (Sending Dr. Polaris and Path of Destruction to the KO pile)
COMBAT PHASE
Poison Ivy places a second Dr. Polaris into the hidden area.
Aaron team attacks Chemo, Polaris, Polaris, Deadshot Catman, and Ivy direct for 14. then KOs both his Dr. Polaris to exhaust JS' two hidden characters.
He then attacks direct with Black Manta, playing Path of Destruction from his row, chaining Chemo's effect to replace it. granting a +10 ATK pump and once resolving the pump, pays Black Manta's effect to place another Path of destruction into his hand playing it for an additional +8 ATK before finally playing an acceptable Loss from his row, KOing Deadshot for an additional +4 ATK.
RECOVERY PHASE
Admiral Wolverine Lightning-bolt -> -9 Secret Six Burial Grounds -> 6
UNBELIEVABLE! Secret Six Burial Grounds advances to the top 4!
POSTGAME THOUGHTS
JS Thoughts:
"When I saw him sitting on the first Polaris, I realized there was a very real chance he'd double up POlarises and nerf my attacks on his next initiative, so I blew everything I had at the time, into the Xallarap Attack. Even with the extra draw from Negative Zone, Slipstream just arrived too late as I only had the two characters to recruit. he ended up managing a 45 damage turn and putting me on my ass. Mind you, Chomin taking a day off really hurt too."
Aaron Thoughts:
I was pretty confident I was going to lose... right up until I activated that last Sivana giving me the Straight to the Grave for both the Polaris I needed AND the last Path. SUPER CLUTCH! I can't believe the guts on this little deck! This was Rocky VS Apollo!"
Match 3Z - League of Doom VS Ultimate Fear
League of Doom
- Mark
VS
Ultimate Fear
- Steph
Mark wins the flip and elects to take evens
Steph Mulligans. Mark keeps
TURN 1 (Steph Initiative)
DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)
BUILD PHASE
Steph sets a resource and recruits Wasp inthe hidden area.
Mark sets a resource and passes.
COMBAT PHASE
Steph activates Wasp's effect to burn Mark for 3. (Removing Cover Fire, Iron Man, Quicksilver, Clint Barton and Nick Fury)
RECOVERY PHASE
League of Doom -> 47 Ultimate Fear -> 50
TURN 2 (Mark Initiative)
DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)
BUILD PHASE
Mark sets a resource and recruits Gypsy, looking at the top 3 cards of his deck before placing one on top and the rest on the bottom.
Stephj sets a resource and recruits Clint Barton in the hidden support row adjacent to wasp.
COMBAT PHASE
Mark sends Gypsy direct.
Steph sends Clint Direct and activates Wasp to burn for 3, (Removing Forbidden Loyalties, Sleeper Cells, Bullseye, Liberation Day and Wasp)
RECOVERY PHASE
League of Doom -> 40 Ultimate Fear -> 48
TURN 3 (Steph Initiative)
DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)
BUILD PHASE
Steph sets a resource and recruits Blade, independant contractor in her hidden area, protecting Wasp.
Mark sets a resource and recruits Batman, founding Member in the hidden area protected by Gypsy.
COMBAT PHASE
Steph sends Blade into GYpsy, once legal, using his effect to move her into the visible area stunning her. Steph continues with Clint attacking Direct before activating Wasp for yet another 3 burn. (Removing Iron Man, Shimmer, Dr. Light, Wasp, and The Triskelion)
Mark swings with Batman direct for 5.
RECOVERY PHASE
Mark Recovers Gypsy.
League of Doom -> 29 Ultimate Fear -> 43
TURN 4 (Mark Initiative)
DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)
BUILD PHASE
Mark sets a resource, playing Enemy of my Enemy from the row, (Discarding Dr. Doom) to search for Aquaman, placing it into his hand before recruiting Dr. Doom diabolic genius behind Gypsy and flupping the EomE face down from his effect. Mark then flips up For the Glory of Doom! to team-up JLA and Doom.
Steph sets a resource and recruits Iron Man in the visible support row.
COMBAT PHASE
Mark plays Reign of Terror, thinking a LONG while... before settling on targetting Blade, returning it to Steph's hand. Then declaring Doom into Iron man. Once legal flipping up Doomstadt to avoid the stunback. before sending Batman and Gypsy direct.
Steph activates Wasp to force 3 more endurance loss. (Removing The Underworld Star, 2x Dr. Sivana, Sleeper Cells, and Clint Barton)
RECOVERY PHASE
Steph recovers Iron Man.
League of Doom -> 26 Ultimate Fear -> 32
TURN 5 (Steph Initiative)
DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)
BUILD PHASE
Steph sets a resource and recruits Shimmer protecting Iron Man, and Blade protecting Wasp in the hidden area.
Mark sets a resource and recruits Superman, metropolis marvel in the support row unprotected adjacent to Dr. Doom.
COMBAT PHASE
Steph flips up Triskelion and plays forbidden Loyalties from the row, (Discarding Iron Man) to place a +1/+1 counter on Iron Man and teaming up S.H.I.E.L.D. and Fearsome Five.
She then activates Shimmer's effect (now able to exhaust 5 characters) to which Mark responds with a Batman Activation (Discarding Batman) to replace the team-up. And Steph chains a second rowed Forbidden Loyalties, re-teaming up and placing a +1/+1 counter on iron man (Discarding Nick Fury)
Mark, not liking the 9/9 Iron man chains a mystical Paralysis played from his hand, to exhaust Iron Man and shimmer finally resolves, exhausting his board.
She then sends Blade into Batman. Once legal Moving him into the Visible area in a mutual stun. before exhausting wasp, removing Clint Barton from the game to remove Batman and passing.
RECOVERY PHASE
Steph recovers Blade.
League of Doom -> 23 Ultimate Fear -> 29
TURN 6 (Mark Initiative)
DRAW PHASE
Steph chains The Underworld Star from her row to the draw phase, (Discarding Lady Deathstrike) and chains Triskelion (removing 0 cards from play). Trisk resolves, placing Sleeper Cells into her hand before resolving The Underworld Star grabbing Dr. Light.
( Then Both Players draw 2 cards)
BUILD PHASE
Mark sets a resource and recruits Aquaman (placing Mystical Paralysis and Batman into his hand from the KO pile.)
Steph sets a resource and recruits Dr. Light, forming him in the support row adjacent to Iron Man. And activates Dr. Light's effect targetting Superman, Stunning him before playing Sleeper Cells from her row (exhausting Shimmer, Wasp, and Hawkeye) to ready Dr. Light, immediately activating to stun Dr. Doom. Doom responds with a Mystical Paralysis exhausting Iron Man.
COMBAT PHASE
Without flight, Mark can't attack without triggering Iron Man's effect first and checks Steph's RFG pile. not seeing any Press the attacks and worrying about a timely reinforcement effect, he ultimately sends Gypsy into Shimmer for the easy stun (triggering Iron Man's effect) before sending Aquaman into Iron man himself for another uncontested stun. Steph counterswings her last ready character, Blade into Gypsy. Mark responds and KO's Gypsy to For the Glory of Doom!'s effect to burn for 2. Blade readies, but Steph passes.
RECOVERY PHASE
Shimmer auto-recovers and gains a +1/+1 counter from Iron Man's effect.
Mark recovers Superman, KOing Dr. Doom.
Steph recovers Iron Man.
League of Doom -> 14 Ultimate Fear -> 17
TURN 7 (Steph Initiative)
DRAW PHASE
Steph chains Triskelion to the draw phase, (removing 0 cards from play) and places Lady Deathstrike into her hand.
(Both Players draw 2 cards)
BUILD PHASE
Steph sets a resource and substitutes Lady Deathstrike into play, replacing Iron man before playing Liberation day, removing Wasp from the game to search for Thor. recruiting him in the support row, and activating him immediately. With 21 cards left inher deck and 24 in her RFG pile, Mark elects to take deck damage and eats 21 endurance loss. She then actiates Lady deathstrike, returning her to her hand to ready Thor, activating him again for another 21. She then substitutes Lady Deathstrike removing Dr. Light from the game, and activates her effect again, readying Thor, and burning for another 21 endurance loss.
"Sorry Mark. Rules are rules."
She then flips up a second triskelion, activating it (removing Lady Deathstrike from play) to get Sleeper Cells and plays it. Exhausting Blade, wasp and Clint to ready Thor, burning for another 21.
"Holy shit."Mark sets a resource and plays Enemy of my Enemy (discarding batman) to search out Dreadnought Tank, recruiting it.
COMBAT PHASE
Dreadnought Tank triggers (Thanks Doomstadt!) returning Shimmer and Wasp to Stephs hand before she has the opportunity to use Shimmer's effect.
With her board exhausted, Steph passed combat.
Mark swings with Superman into Thor and plays Savage Beatdown from his row for a mutual stun before sending the Dreadnought Tank and Aquaman direct, playing another beatdown from the row on Aquaman and playing Mightiest Heroes from his row as well, (Discarding Wonderwoman) to put an aquaman into his hand for a power up for a total of 31 direct.
But alas, the damage was done.
RECOVERY PHASE
League of Doom -> -75 Ultimate Fear -> -23
Ultimate Fear advances to the top 4!
POSTGAME THOUGHTS:
Mark Thoughts:
"84 burn from Thor on turn 7? Not even caring about teamups? That's just silly!"
Steph Thoughts:
"I was so petrified of Batman I didnt bother flipping up any team-ups or triskelions until I had my second team-up on turn 5. I'm sorry Mark, I really wanted to stop but Aaron Insisted I activate any other options I had. So blame him! I'll make you some cookies later! Thanks for being a good sport!"
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