The Goods: Kingmaker Week 4

Week 4 has finally arrived! And hooo-boy we are going to break down some good fights this week in:

Last week we kissed goodbye to Ultimates, Highest Voltage, Invisible tOUCH, Just ONE, SHIELD Burn, Exiles, Chess Press and COMBEX. The latter having been my pick to go all the way. (For those of you interested) So to say we saw some upsets would be... well... one hell of an understatement. Still, we offer the fallen builds our gratitude for their noble sacrifices.

But lets get to it, shall we? Once again this week our pilots are playing the builds they are more comfortable with.

LOSERS BRACKET: ROUND 3

Match 41 - Quickfate(Steph) VS (Mark)Spider-Stall
If Quickfate does what it does around turn 3 instead of turn 4 or later, it, it is doubtful any deck that remains can stop it from going ham all over the place. But I'm not sure I'd call this matchup unfavorable either. One death of the dream replacing them into a non reservist character, or an equipment and those super sized swings become single swings. That's assuming spider-stall doesn't mulligan agressively for a bad press either. Initiatives may matter here, (as always) but I feel like Spider-Stall hitting or missing their mulligan condition will decide the game.
Favored to Win: Quickfate


Match 42 - Secret Society(JS) VS (Aaron)Fantastic Fun 2.0
It's the deck that surprised all comers against the deck that lived. Unless Secret society has some outplay that carries it to victory, The consistency of this Fantastic Fun 2.0 list may finally do what Hulk and Doom both failed to do.
Favored to Win: Fantastic Fun 2.0


Match 43 - Bosom Buddies(Lee) VS (Josh)Migga City
I won't spend too much time here. Bosom buddies has all the tools it needs to run away with this one. Migga isn't without hope, though. A Mad hatter theft at an opportune moment could steal the win.
Favored to Win: Bosom Buddies


Match 44 - Black Bamboo(Josh) VS (Lee)Captain Italy
Whoever gets the odd initiative essentially wins. But a random cointoss aside, I feel that Black Bamboo's unique roster of silver bullets may just manage to fish for the answer they need to pull it out. if they set up as early as last game and actually hit a Tarnax IV, they easily have the ability to end by 4. Something I don't see Captain Italy managing.
Favored to Win: Black Bamboo


WINNERS BRACKET: ROUND 3

Match 45 - TNNB(Steph) VS (Lee)Randomizer
A basic question of Red pill or Blue pill? Both builds hold a heavy preference to win on turn 4+ but the TNNB Godhand is a virtual autowin. Or is it? Remember... Randomizer is the reason Quickfate is currently in the losers bracket. And that counts for something BIG. Initiatives will matter in a big way here. We may see TNNB with an unsightly loss here.
Favored to Win: Randomizer


Match 46 - Doomsday's Boomday(JS) VS (Mark)Rad Man
In the battle of late-games, Doomsday's Boomday is pretty insane. But if Rad Man can interfere with Doomsday's ongoing Plot Twist set-up Boomday may never see its win condition. You know... IF.
Favored to Win: Rad Man


Match 47 - Both Guns Blazing(Aaron) VS (Steph)Wolverine Direct
Combo control VS the only other build in this event Steph seems to enjoy as much as TNNB. If both guns cannot answer Wolverine before it gets BPRD'd. This will wind up being a very short game.
Favored to Win: Wolverine Direct


Match 48 - Sentinels 2.0(JS) VS (Josh)Anti-Matter Rush
Getting here almost entirely on the back of Political Pressure, the Sentinels have certainly surprised all expectations outlasting decks like Exiles, SHIELD Burn, COMBEX and Invisible tOUCH in this event and managing to snag the path of least reistance while it did so. This may be a rude awakening, for them however, as this anti-matter build likes to win on turn 3 ALMOST as often as Quickfate itself. And it doesn't need multiple recruits to manage it.
Favored to Win: Anti-Matter Rush


That's your weekly breakdown guys! Think i'm on point this week? Let me know by posting a reply here or by posting up in the VS SYSTEM COLLECTIVE FACEBOOK GROUP!

Postgame report: Week 3!

Games tied in the negatives go one more turn for a deciding round! A surefire victory foiled at the last moment! Almost a new record set for fastest win! All this and more! as we bite into the...

Check out the updated brackets!

Match 33: Spider-Stall VS Ultimates

With the game TIED at -6 a piece coming out of 7, it was a Spider-Stall initiative on turn 8 that allowed it to seal the fate of the Ultimates in an wickedly close game.

Final: Spider-Stall  ELIMINATES  Ultimates

-19  to  -36

 

 

Match 34: Quickfate VS Highest Voltage

In a grand display, Quickfate almost wins on turn TWO as it flexes it's muscles and proves why it deserves to be the undisputed king of the Golden age monsters.

Final: Quickfate  ELIMINATES  Highest Voltage

8  to -21

 

 

 

Match 35: Invisible tOUCH VS fantastic Fun 2.0

Sometimes a deck doesn't lose... Its player loses.
An overzealous JS tries to combo out on turn 3 and fails, only to be picked apart by the combo build on turn 4. At least it did a point of damage though.

Final: Invisible tOUCH  ELIMINATED BY  Fantastic Fun 2.0

-5  to 49

 

 

 

Match 36: Just ONE VS Secret Society

This game doesn't really need much said. Chemo in hand on turn 1, and a turn 2 KO of black cat. Kiss plot twist control goodbye, and watch that Chemo + Path of Destruction combo just ruin you.

Final: Just ONE  ELIMINATED BY  Secret Society

-23  to 17

 

 

 

Match 37: Migga City VS SHIELD Burn

A clincher of a battle is decided on the back of Migga drawing into some clumped PA's to prevent 9 points of lategame damage to squeak out a victory.

Final: Migga City  ELIMINATES  SHIELD Burn

-7  to -9

 

 

 

Match 38: Exiles VS Bosom Buddies

The good news? Exiles took the nipple bros to -3 on turn 4. The bad news? Unfortunately, Bosom buddies had the initiative and the Exiles ended the game rocking back and forth in a corner, pointing to the place on the doll where the bad men touched them.

Final: Exiles  ELIMINATED BY  Bosom Buddies

-105  to-3

 

 

 

Match 39: Chess Press VS Captain Italy

Chess press had everything they wanted to a solid win. Initiative on their kill turn. a perfect chess press turn 5. Then their entire resource row got wiped out and things took a turn...

Final: Chess Press  ELIMINATED BY  Captain Italy

-8  to 11

 

 

 

Match 40: COMBEX VS Black Bamboo

Earlier we saw how a player can fail the deck in a game. This time, we saw an example of the deck failing the player, as JS activates Ahmed to get his Needed Panoptichron and with it, go infinite and win the game... only to realize this list had no more in the deck than the 2 he had already seen.

Final: COMBEX  ELIMINATED BY  Black Bamboo

-16  to 38

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Match 33: Spider-Stall VS Ultimates

Spider-Stall

Lee

-VS-

Ultimates

Aaron

Aaron wins the flip and elects to take odds.

Both players keep.


        TURN 1 (Aaron Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Aaron sets a resource and recruits Wasp in his hidden area.

Lee sets and flips Bad Press and shifts The Spider for 1.

    COMBAT PHASE

Aaron activates Wasp, (removing Savage Beatdown, 2x Liberation day, only human, and Blade.) to deal 3 damage to Lee.

    RECOVERY PHASE

    Spider-Stall -> 47    Ultimates -> 50




        TURN 2 (Lee Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Lee sets a resource and recruits Aunt May, Searching for Ultimate Spider-man, and passes.

Aaron sets a resource and recruits Beetle <> Mach in his visible support row.

    COMBAT PHASE

Lee passes combat.

Aaron sends Beetle into Aunt May for an easy stun. He then activates Wasp (removing Triskelion, Clint Barton, meltdown, Mobilize and Only Human) to deal 3 damage to Lee.

    RECOVERY PHASE

Lee recovers Aunt May.

    Spider-Stall -> 41    Ultimates -> 50




        TURN 3 (Aaron Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE
beetle gains a +1/+1 counter.

Aaron sets a resource and flips up Triskelion. He then activates triskelion (removing War Machine Armor,  Wasp, Savage Beatdown, Hank Pym and Iron Man) to fetch himself Blade from his RFP zone, recruiting it into his hidden area protecting Wasp.

Lee sets a resource and recruits Ultimate Spider-Man protecting Aunt May. He removes 2 web counters to exhaust beetle.(0)

    COMBAT PHASE

Aaron activates Wasp (removing 2x iron Man, Sleeper Cells, Liberation Day and press the Attack) to deal another 3 to Lee before passing.

Lee declares Spider-man into beetle for a quick stun and plays Straight to the Grave from his row Sending Lex Luthor to his KO pile.

    RECOVERY PHASE

Aaron recovers Beetle.

    Spider-Stall -> 38    Ultimates -> 46




        TURN 4 (Lee Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
Aaron chains Triskelion to his draw (removing 0 cards) for Hank Pym.
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Lee sets a resource and reveals Scarlet Spider. He then recruits Zombie Spider-man (2 web counters) and passes.

Beetle gains a +1/+1 counter.

Aaron sets a resource and recruits Han Pym protecting Beetle and passes.

    COMBAT PHASE
Hank Pym triggers and removes a Clint Barton from play off the top of Aaron's deck, gaining a +1/+1 counter.

Lee removes 2 web counters from Zombie Spider-man(0) to exhaust Beetle. he then activates Zombie Spider-man's effect, KOing it. Aaron exhausts his wasp. Lee passes.

Aaron sends Hank over Ulimate Spiderman for a stun. Lee reinforces with Aunt May. Blade swings into Aunt May for another stun.

    RECOVERY PHASE
Zombie Spidey returns to play.

lee recovers Ulimate Spider-man and KOs Aunt May.

    Spider-Stall -> 30    Ultimates -> 46



        TURN 5 (Aaron Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
Aaron chains a rowed mobilize to the draw (discarding cover fire) and chains Triskelion to the mobilize (removing 0)
Triskelion resolves grabbing War Machine armor, and mobilize resolves grabbing Iron Man.
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE
Beetle gains a +1/+1 counter.

Aaron sets a resource and recruits iron man in his support row. He then equips War machine armor onto it. he forms Hank protecting Iron Man.

Lee sets a resource and flips up a rowed Omnipotence.
Aaron chooses not to rerspond.

Lee calls Triskelion.

He then plays a rowed Messiah Complex to place Lex Luthor into his hand and recruits it in his support row protected by Zombie Spider-man.

    COMBAT PHASE
Hank pym triggers and removes meltdown from play off the top of Aaron's deck.
Iron Man triggers revealing No targets to remove.

Aaron goes into the tank and eventually declares Blade into Zombie Spider-man. Once legal, moving the zombie into the hidden area and Blade stuns.

Hank Pym and Beetle team swing into Lex for a mutual stun between Lee's 5 drop and Aaron's 4. Aaron then plays a rowed Mobilize (discarding Captain America) and chains War Machine Armor (discarding 0).

War machine armor resolves, replacing Lee's row dealing 5 damage and Mobilize resolves, grabbing Another Captain America. Lee opts to stun zombie spider-man.
Aaron passes.

Lee flips up No More Mr. Nice Guy and a bad press from his row and declares ulimate spidey into Beetle for a 1-way stun and passes.

    RECOVERY PHASE

Aaron recovers Hank, KOingBlade and Beetle.

Lee recovers Lex, KOing Zombie Spider-Man.

    Spider-Stall -> 16    Ultimates -> 35



        TURN 6 (Lee Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Lee sets and flips an indebted from his resource row (discarding another Indebted) to grab an Ultimate Spidey. he then reveals Scarlet Spider in his hand to remove uniqueness on his spideys. And recruits two more Ultimate Spider-men,(10 web counters) forming Lex in the front row and the remaining spideys in the support row. he then flips up a rowed Omnipotence.

"Holy hell how much good stuff did that armor activation give you?"
Aaron chooses not to respond.
Lee calls War Machine Armor.

Aaron sets a resource, and recruits Captain America. he forms cap protecting Iron Man and Hank adjacent to him and passes.

    COMBAT PHASE
Hank pym triggers and removes Lady deathstrike from play off the top of Aaron's deck.
Iron once again fails to remove cards from Lee's hand.

Lee declares all three Ultimate Spideys into Cap. once legal, spending  1 web counter to exhaust Wasp, and 4 more to exhaust Hank. Aaron uses caps effect, (removing from play a hank to grant iron Man +1/+1 for the turn and activates Triskelion (removing 0) and grabbing Only Human. Lee responds spending 5 we counters to exhaust iron man as well (0 counters)
Aaron stuns a Spidey while cap goes down.
Lex follows up swinging into Hank for a 1-sided stun.

Both players then pass to recovery.

    RECOVERY PHASE

Lee recovers Ultimate Spidey.

Aaron recovers Captain America, KOing Hank.

    Spider-Stall -> 13    Ultimates -> 25




        TURN 7 (Aaron Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Aaron sets a resource and plays a rowed Liberation day (removing Nick Fury) and chains triskelion (removing Clint Barton)
Triskelion Resolves, netting Press the Attack and Mobilize grabs Thor.
Aaron recruits Thor adjacent to iron Man anad passes.

Lee sets a resource, then reveals scarlet spider and then recruits Spider-Man <> The Spider hidden (6 web counters) Then after thinking for a bit, shifts into play the second Spider (12 counters) before recruiting Spider-Man, secret avenger (18 counters)

He spends 7 counters to exhaust Thor.(11) Then 5 to exhaust Iron Man.(6) And activates Secret Avenger's effect (discarding Scarlet Spider) and targeting Thor before passing.

    COMBAT PHASE

Iron man triggers and fails to remove a card from play from Lees hand.

Aaron declares Cap into Lex. lee spends his final 6 counters to exhaust Cap before it is legal. Aaron plays a rowed Only Human targeting Lex. Once it resolves he activates Wasp (removing Wasp, War machine armor, Ultimate Nullifier and Nick Fury) to deal 3 damage. Then Plays Press the Attack from his hand, readying Thor.
Aaron then declares Thor into Lex. for an easy stun. He then passes unable to do more.

Lee team swings his two hidden spiders flipping up a second No more Mr. nice guy to trade with Cap.
He follows up sending an Ultimate Spider-man into Iron man, playing a rowed messiah Complex to power-up and avoid the stunback taking down Iron Man. he then team swings his remaining Ultimate Spider-men trading with Thor. Finally, he sends His secret avenger direct for 13.

    RECOVERY PHASE

Aaron recovers Thor, KOing Cap and Iron Man.

Lee Recovers Lex, KOing an ultimate Spiderman and his hidden Spider.

    Spider-Stall -> -6    Ultimates -> -6



        TURN 8 (Lee Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
Aaron chains Triskelion to the draw, grabbing an RFP'd Captain America.
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Lee sets and flips empire State U, and recruits Koriand'r, X'Hal's Fury protecting his secret avenger and passes.

Aaron sets a resource and recruits Captain America protecting Thor followed by recruiting clint Barton hidden.

    COMBAT PHASE

Lee sends ultimate spidey and The spider in a team attack into Cap for a mutual stun. He then sends his Ultimate Spidey and Secret Avenger into Thor for another mutual between 5 and 7. Then he sends Lex Direct for 9 and sends Koriand'r direct for 15 more

Aaron declares Clint and wasp team attacking into Lex. flipping up a second Triskelion (KOing the first to uniqueness) and activating it (removing 0) to play a savage beatdown for a mutual stun.

    RECOVERY PHASE

    Spider-Stall -> -19    Ultimates -> -36



Spider-Stall wins!


Thoughts:

Aaron - Had i pulled a second trisk on 7 instead of 8 i would have won on 7. but this matchup is always a balst for me to play. I really enjoyed it, and if i'm being honest... even if ultimates HAD won next round it faces an autoloss. playing the winner between quickfate and Highest Voltage. so I can't feel bad about this result.


Mark - Wait This deck plays WHO next round? Oh shit.

Match 34: Quickfate VS Highest Voltage

Quickfate

Steph

-VS-

Highest Voltage

Mark

Steph wins the flip and elects to take Odd initiatives.

Both Players Keep.


        TURN 1 (Steph Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Steph sets a resource and shifts Vision for 1. KOing it to draw 2 cards and passes.

Mark sets a resource and recruits electric Eve.

    COMBAT PHASE

Steph Passes.

Mark swings direct for 2 and evades electric Eve.

    RECOVERY PHASE

electric eve auto-recovers, dealing 1 damage

    Quickfate -> 47    Highest Voltage -> 49




        TURN 2 (Mark Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Mark sets and flips Surprise Attack. then recruits Micro Chip and Speedball. he KO's Microship to flip down Surprise Attack playing it again and activates Speedball dealing 3 damage to both players before flipping up the great refuge and fetching himself a Quicksilver.
he forms his 2 characters inhis support row and passes.

Steph sets a resource and recruits Quicksilver in her support row. She equips an amulet and a cloak onto him and passes.

    COMBAT PHASE

mark evades electric eve and passes.

Steph declares Quicksilver into Speedball. Once legal, playing a Rowed Megablast, a rowed Kill or be Killed, a Crackshot from her hand a royal Guard from her hand and one last Kill or be Killed from her hand. he stuns Speedball easily. uses his effect and swings again for 20.

    RECOVERY PHASE

Electric eve auto-recovers, dealing 1 damage

Mark recovers Speedball.

    Quickfate -> 33    Highest Voltage -> 5



        TURN 3 (Steph Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Steph sets a resource and recruits Human Torch, sparky protecting Quicksilver.

Mark sets a resource and activates Speedball dealing 3 damage to both players before flipping up Die for Darkseid, KOing it he shen shifts vision for 1 and KOs it to draw 2. before playing we can rebuild him from his hand (discarding electric eve) do do it again drawing 2 more.
Mark then recruits Lockjaw Hidden (discarding Quicksilver) to search out another Lockjaw. And recruits speedball protecting electric eve and attaches it with a Mjolnir, hammer of the gods. before passing.

    COMBAT PHASE

Steph declares Quicksilver into Speedball, Once legal Mark activates speedball burning them both for 3 and Mjolnir triggers dealing 2 more to steph. Steph responds playing The Royal Guard from her row. and speedball stuns.

Steph uses Quicksilvers effect to ready and then swings into Electric Eve for 7 more on a 1-sided stun. She then swings direct with Human Torch and passes.

mark declares Lockjaw into Torch ad powers up before playing 2 flying kicks and a megablast from his hand for a mutual stun.

    RECOVERY PHASE

    Quickfate -> 8    Highest Voltage -> -21


Quickfate wins!


Thoughts:

Mark - Just when I think Quickfate doesn't go faster it almost ends me on turn 2. TURN 2. let that sink in people. TURN TWO. What the hell man.

Steph - haha wow this went fast.

Match 35: Invisible tOUCH VS Fantastic Fun 2.0

Invisible tOUCH

JS

-VS-

Fantastic Fun 2.0

Aaron

Aaron wins the flip and chooses evens.

Both players Keep.


        TURN 1 (JS Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

JS sets a resource and shifts vision for 1 KOing it to draw 2 and passes.

Aaron sets a resource and recruits Black Panther Hidden.

    COMBAT PHASE

Black Panther swings for 2.

    RECOVERY PHASE

    Invisible tOUCH -> 48    Fantastic Fun 2.0 -> 50




        TURN 2 (Aaron Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Aaron sets a resource and recruits Invisible Woman, invisible girl in his visible front row. He equips Future Tech onto Black Panther and flips up New Baxter Building, activating it to draw a card.

JS sets a resource and plays We Can rebuild Him from his hand (discarding Invisible Woman, walking on air) to shift and KO vision to draw 2. He then manually shifts and KOs a vision for 2 more before shifting sage with 1 shift counter and passing.

    COMBAT PHASE

Aaron sends Invisible woman and Black Panther direct for 6 total damage.

    RECOVERY PHASE

    Invisible tOUCH -> 42    Fantastic Fun 2.0 -> 50




        TURN 3 (JS Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

JS sets a resource and recruits Haywire and franklin Richards before playing a cosmic radiation from his hand to ready Franklin. Franklin activates making invisible woman cost cheaper for JS and then plays A Clash of Worlds from his hand calling out Invisible Woman. He then recruits 2 invisible women for 0 and spendsa resource to place a second shift counter on Sage, shifting her into play to draw 4 cards. he then plays Enemy of my Enemy from his hand (discarding Franklin richards) to fetch Duela Dent, Substituting her into play (removing an invisible woman) he then plays a rowed Beak Saves, shifting out Sage with 1 shift counter, paying his final resource pount to shift sage back into play for an additional 4 cards. he flips up Rigged elections in his row and recruts another invisible woman before playing enemy of my enemy (discarding Quicksilver) to search out an Invisible Woman, invisible girl, recruiting her.

JS exhausts Duela Dent to place a Ballot counter on rigged Elections (1) and passes.

Aaron sets a resource and recruits Mr. fantastic behind Invisible Woman. activating his effect (revealing A Clash of Worlds, A child Named Valeria, Future Tech, and Mr. Fantastic.) netting a future Tech and equipping it onto Invisible Woman. Then activating New Baxter to draw a card.

    COMBAT PHASE

JS Passes.

Aaron plays the 100 Ideas checking his bottom 4 cards to grab A Child Named Valeria. He plays it and declares Invisible woman into Duela Dent for a stun and then sends Black Panther into Haywire for another stun. before passing.

    RECOVERY PHASE

JS recovers Duela, KOIng Haywire.

    Invisible tOUCH -> 33    Fantastic Fun 2.0 -> 50




        TURN 4 (Aaron Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Aaron sets a resource (flipping up Pier 4) and recruits Human Torch and plays a rowed Mobilize (discarding invisible woman) to search out Uatu the Watcher and then activates Mr fantastic (revealing Mr fantastic, 2x childs and a future tech) keeping the tech and equipping it onto Mr. fantastic. he activates New Baxter and draws a card before passing.

Js sets a resource and shifts vision to draw 2, then recruits Proteus before playing Beak saves from his hand on Sage shifting her out with 1 counter and plays A Clash of Worlds from his hand calling Invisible Woman. He activates Franklin Richards and then recruits 2 invisible women from his hand and a Haywire. he then activates Proteus placing a shift counter on Sage and shifting her back into play, drawing 4 cards.
JS then plays Intergalactic Summit from his row teaming-up Fan 4 and Arkham and drawing a card. and exhausting 5 invisible women and Duels for Rigged (7) he plays We can Rebuild him (discarding Sage) to end up drawing 2 more and then shifts Vision for 1 KOing it for yet 2 more cards He plays another Rowed Integalactic Summit to team-up Arkham and Squadron Supreme, drawing a card, and then plays clash form his hand, calling out Haywire, recruiting another haywire then playing Enemy of my Enemy (discarding Franklin Richards) to grab a haywire and recruit that as well, exhausting his 3 haywires for ballot counters (10) he plays Cosmic Radiation readying all his fan 4 characters and exhausts them all to rigged (20) and finally passes.

    COMBAT PHASE

Aaron uses Declares Black Panther into Duela. Once legal, playing a Cosmic radiation from his row, chaining Human Torch and Invisible Woman's Future tech to burn for 4 and 3 respectively. Cosmic readies his field, and he activates Black Panther, Invis Woman, Mr fan and HUman torch's burn effects. and then plays a cosmic radiation from his hand activating them all one more before resolving his attack. Black Panther and Duala trade Mutual stuns and Aaron Passes.

    RECOVERY PHASE

    Invisible tOUCH -> -5    Fantastic Fun 2.0 -> 49


Fantastic fun wins!


Thoughts:

JS - I should never have gone off on 3. it cost me alot of draw in the end and that hurt. The safe play is waiting 1 more turn and banking on Fantastic Fun's inability to end on 3.

Aaron - When he started going off on three I asked if he was sure he wanted to proceed. Not knowing what his hand was looked like. But he seemd pretty confident it would go his way. with 19 cards left in his deck he ultimately fell short.

Match 36: Just ONE VS Secret Society

Just ONE

Mark

-VS-

Secret Society

Josh

Josh wins the flip and elects to take odds.

Mark Mulligans.

Josh Keeps.


        TURN 1 (Josh Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Josh sets a resource and recruits Chemo in his hidden area.

Mark sets a resource and passes.

    COMBAT PHASE

Josh swings direct for 1.

    RECOVERY PHASE

    Just ONE -> 49    Secret Society -> 50




        TURN 2 (Mark Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Mark sets a resource and plays Straight to the Grave from his hand (sending Black Cat to the kO pile) he then flips and activates Avalon Space Station (discarding Black Manta) to cet Black Cat and recruits her in his visible front row.

Josh sets a resource and passes.

    COMBAT PHASE

Mark sends Black Cat direct for 2

Josh Passes.

    RECOVERY PHASE

    Just ONE -> 49    Secret Society -> 48




        TURN 3 (Josh Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Josh sets a resource and Flips Gorilla City. he then recruits Poison Ivy into his visible front row, and KO's Chemo to replace Avalon.

Mark sets a resource and plays Straight to the Grave from his hand (sending Dr. Doom richards rival to his KO pile.) Then he flips up Soul World. paying 4 to grab Doom.
"Wow you replaced into that?"

Mark recruits Doom into his visible front row protecting Black Cat. His effect triggers and Mark fetches Underground Movement, placing it on the top of his deck.


    COMBAT PHASE
Poison Ivy triggers, placing Chemo into play in Josh's hidden area.

Josh declares Ivy into Doom for a mutual stun. Josh then declares Chemo into Black Cat. Once legal he activates Gorilla City (sending Path of Destruction to the KO pile for +1 ATK.

Mark decides to evade Black Cat.

Chemo readies and Josh plays Straight to the grave from his row (sending a Riddler and Path of Destruction to his KO pile) Then Josh plays Unnatural selection, exhausting Chemo to KO Black Cat selecting to force Mark to send his top 2 cards of each player to the KO pile. (sending Underground Movement and Bad press for Mark, and Mobilize and Omni for Josh) he also made special care to make sure Mark was fully aware just how awesome that moment was.

    RECOVERY PHASE

Josh recovers Poison Ivy.

Mark recovers Doom.

    Just ONE -> 40    Secret Society -> 45




        TURN 4 (Mark Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Mark sets and flips Enemy of my Enemy (discarding Human Torch) to search out Black Manta and then Uses Doom's effect to KO itself, replacing his face up EomE. He checks his replaced resource and laughs out loud. Composing himself he activates Soul world, paying 4 to get that doom again and recruits richard's rival in his front row, placing a Mystical Paralysis on the top of his deck and then passes.

Josh sets a resource and plays Straight to the grave from his hand (sending Black Manta and a Path of Destruction to his KO pile) he then recruits Gorilla Grodd protected by Poison Ivy and passes.

Mark plays Reign of Terror from his hand to return Ivy to Josh's hand.
Josh responds with Grodd's effect. KOing Ivy to target himself to draw 3 (discarding Charaxes, Sinestro, and Mr. Freeze)

    COMBAT PHASE

Mark passes.

Josh declares Grodd into Doom. Mark flips up Underground Movement. (The card he replaced into earlier)

Josh debates replacing the resource but instead passes. Doom goes hidden and is stunned. Chemo then swings direct with a gorilla city pump for +3 ATK (sending and Agility to the KO pile)

    RECOVERY PHASE

Mark recovers Doom.

    Just ONE -> 29    Secret Society -> 45




        TURN 5 (Josh Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Josh sets a resource and recruits Black Manta protecting Grodd. manta triggers Charaxes' effect and themoth monster take position inthe front row next to Manta. Josh then flips Birthing Chamber and activates it to draw a card before passing.

Mark sets a resource and recruits Black Manta and passes.

    COMBAT PHASE

Josh declares an attack with Black Manta, but Mark plays a Mystical Paralysis from his hand to deny the swing.
Josh then declares Gorilla Grodd into Black Manta. Once legal, activating Gorilla city for +3 ATK (sending Deathstroke to the KO pile) and then playing two Agility from his hand to prevent the stunback on a now 11/11 grodd. Charaxes swings direct for 3 and Black Manta pays 3 to grab Straight to the grave and replay it (sending Dr. Sivana and the last Path of Destruction to the KO pile) and then sends Chemo direct for 1 more before KOing it to replace Underground Movement.

    RECOVERY PHASE

Mark recovers Black Manta.

    Just ONE -> 21    Secret Society -> 42




        TURN 6 (Mark Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Mark sets and flips Messiah Complex, to get Human Torch into his hand from his KO pile and recrutis it protected by Black Manta before passing.

Josh pays 3 endurance for Black manta's effect, getting Path of Destruction. He then sets a resource and recruits Poison Ivy and Chemo before flipping up a rowed Master Plan (discarding Doomsday) to target his own Dr. Sivana from his KO pile. Then he activates Birthing Chamber to draw 2 cards, (discarding dr. Polaris) and then he passes.

    COMBAT PHASE
Poison Ivy triggers bringing Dr. Polaris into play.

Mark declares Human Torch into Black Manta for a fast stun while Grodd reinforces. Then Black Manta swings over Poison Ivy. And finally Doom into Charaxes. Mark then passes.

Josh declares Dr. Polaris into Human Torch. Once legal Playing Gorilla City for +3 ATK (sending Mobilize to the KO pile) and then playing his rowed Path of destruction.
he chains Chemo to the Path, KOing chemo to replace it. and Path resolves at +10ATK and a mutual stun on Human Torch.

Josh then plays Unnatural Selection from his hand, exhaustng Cr. Sivana to KO Human Torch (mark mills Dr. doom, messiah complex, cable, SttG, Savage Beatdown and Death of the dream. While Josh sends Deathdtroke, Mobilize, Black Manta, Gorilla City, SttG, and Dr. Polaris) he then passes.

    RECOVERY PHASE
At the start fo the recovery Phase, Josh KOs Charaxes, Polaris and Ivy to place three agility cards into his hand.

Josh recovers Black Manta.

    Just ONE -> 13    Secret Society -> 20




        TURN 7 (Josh Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Josh sets a resource and flips Omnipotence.
Mark chains Death of the dream boosted from his hand, exhausting Doom and Manta to replace Omni and Gorilla City.)

Then Josh Uses Master plan (discarding Poison Ivy to recruit Doomsday from his KO pile.) Doomsday triggers Charaxes and the bug monster forms along side the monstrous 7 drop. he forms Black Manta protected by doomsday and Grodd protected by Charaxes and activates Birthing Chamber to draw a card. he then activates Dr. Sivana, drawing a card (discarding riddler) before passing.

Mark sets a resource and recruits Richard Rider. entering play he removes 7 cards but only a Straight to the Grave remains playble. he plays it sending Deadshot to the KO pile. because... reasons. and then he passes.

    COMBAT PHASE
Doomsday's effect KOs dr. Sivana.

Black Manta pays 3 to fetch Path of Destruction.
Then Gorilla grodd declares an attack into Black Manta featuring three agility's and a Path resolving at +8 ATK for 16/13 and an easy stun. Then doomsday swings over Richard for another easy stun, then black Manta and Charaxes swing direct to close out the game



    RECOVERY PHASE

    Just ONE -> -23    Secret Society -> 17


Secret Society wins!


Thoughts:

Mark - A turn 1 chemo is serious business. Completely forgetting that in Secret Society, Unnatural Selection is a thing is even worse.

Josh - around turn 4 I was seriously debating stealing the black cat and sage combo with Master Plan... but I figured if the Plot twist lock wasn't working for him, why would it work for me?

Match 37: Migga City VS SHIELD Burn

Migga City

Josh

-VS-

SHIELD Burn

Mark

Josh wins the flip and takes Odds.

Both players keep


        TURN 1 (Josh Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Josh sets a resource and passes.

Mark sets a resource and recruits Squirrel Girn in his front row, her effect brings in a SHIELD agent to burn Josh for 2.

    COMBAT PHASE

Josh Passes.

Mark swings for 1 with Squirrel Girl.

    RECOVERY PHASE

    Migga City -> 47    SHIELD Burn -> 50




        TURN 2 (Mark Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Mark sets  resource and recruits Speedball in his support row and then recruits a SHIELD agent (2 damage) protecting it and passes.

Josh recruits Poison Ivy, deadly rose in his visible front row and passes.

    COMBAT PHASE

Mark declares each Shield agent into Poison Ivy. they both stun and both return to his hand from Squiirel Girl's effect. Then he activates speedball and passes.

Josh sends Poison Ivy into Speedball for a stun.

    RECOVERY PHASE

    Migga City -> 42    SHIELD Burn -> 42




        TURN 3 (Josh Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Josh sets a resource and recruits Mad Hatter (revealing Poison Ivy inhand) He spends a resource and targets Speedball to move to his side of the field. Mark chains speedballs effect dealing 3 damage to both players. and Josh takes it, immediately KOing it to Poison Ivy's effect, (KOing a rowed Pyro) to set a 31'st century Metropolis in his row before passing.

Mark sets a resource and recruits Wolverine, agent of shield (returning Squirrel Girl to his hand) and passes.

    COMBAT PHASE

Josh sends Ivy and Hatter direct and passes.

Mark sends Wolverine direct. Once legal, he plays a rowed Blinding Rage and Wolverine hits for 10.

    RECOVERY PHASE

    Migga City -> 29    SHIELD Burn -> 35




        TURN 4 (Mark Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Mark sets a resource and recruits Nick Fury, Director of SHIELD in his hidden area. he activates it placing 2 SHIELD agents into his support row (dealing 4 damage) he then recruits Squirrel Girl in his front row bringing in another free agent for 2 more burn. With 6 characters in play, he flips up Birthing chamber and activates it to draw 2 cards (discarding a SHIELD agent) he then reveals Speedball in his hand to substitute it into play (removing a readied agent in the front row) and activates it to burn Josh for 3. Then Mark Passes.

Josh sets a resource and recruits rogue, Southern Belle in his front row protecting mad-hatter with ivy adjacent to it.

    COMBAT PHASE

Mark declares Wolverine Direct but has no pumps. it deals 6. then Mark sends each of his remaining 2 SHIELD agents into Rogue just to stun them and spin them back to his hand via Squirrel Girl. Mark Passes.

Josh flips up metropolis and teams-up Arkham and Brotherhood. he then declares Rogue into Squirrel Girl for an easy stun, Once legal Mark flips up Evil Lair, activating it to exhaust Squirrel Girl to deal 3 damage to Josh. Josh responds with a rowed Pathetic Attempt, negating it. Both pass the chain and Squirrel Girl stuns.

Then josh sends Mad Hatter into Speedball. Once legal he plays Enemy of my Enemy from his hand (discarding Poison Ivy) to search out Mystique and hatter and speedball mutually stun.
he activates Poison Ivy (koing Hatter) to KO his face up Pathetic attempt and sets and flips Lost City. Ivy declares an attack Direct and Josh flips up Avalon Space Station. Activating it (discarding Mystique) to fetch himself Poison Ivy and Mad Hatter. he powers up ivy to hit direct for 6 and passes.

    RECOVERY PHASE

Mark recovers Speedball, KOing Squirrel Girl.

    Migga City -> 18    SHIELD Burn -> 19




        TURN 5 (Josh Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Josh sets a resource and recruts Scarlet Witch... Mark chains Nick Fury to bring in 2 SHIELD agents The agents burn Josh for 4 while Rogue burns Mark for 4 he then chains Speedball, hoping to trade damage, burning josh for 3 while Rogue burns Mark for 4. However Josh plays a Pathetic attempt from his hand leaving Mark to suffer the damage alone. eventually both pass and Scarlet Witch enters play.

Marl sets a resource and recruits two SHIELD Agents(dealign 4 dmg) and activates Birthing Chamber to draw 2 cards (discarding Nick Fury) and then recruits another 2 SHIELD Agents (burning for 4 more). He forms Speedball and an agent adjacent to it on each side in the front row protecting 3 back row agents while the other agent sits unprotected in the support row.

    COMBAT PHASE

Josh sends the flying Rogue into the backrow Agent protected by Speedball. Once legal he flips and activates Genosha to draw 2 cards.

Mark chooses not to reinforce but exhausts the defending Agent to Evil Lair to burn Josh for 3. Josh plays pathetic Attempt from his hand to negate the damage and takes 6. Josh then declares Poison Ivy into the readied Agent next to Speedball and Discards harley Quinn to power-up becoming a 6/6. then he activates Avalon (discaring Mad Hatter to fetch Mystique and harley back to his hand. Mark reinforces with the Agent behind and the two pass for a stun for 1.
next Wanda Declares an attack into Speedball. Mark flips up  Shield Helicarrier returning Speedball the exhausted support row Agent and the unprotected ready one to his hand. This leaves a front row readied agent and a support row protected agent behind.

Josh goes into the tank. And eventually flips a rowed Genosha. popping it to draw 2 cards. he then plays Enemy of my enemy (discarding Aunt May) to dig out Mikado and Mosha and then discards them to stun the support row Agent.

"Oh. Shit."

Josh sends Scarlet Witch into the final unstunned agents and powers up (discarding Harley)
Mark activates Torture chamber, KOing the defender to deal 2 damage to Josh. Scarlet Witch readies and then attacks direct powering up (discrding Mystique) for 12 and Josh passes.

Mark sends Wolverine direct for 8 and plays Blinding rage from his hand for 12 direct.

    RECOVERY PHASE

    Migga City -> -7    SHIELD Burn -> -9


Migga City wins!


Thoughts:

Mark - For those of you counting along at home thats 9 points of damage he PA'd. just saying. thats pretty damn lucky.

Josh - he's complaining about the PA's but I won on the Back of that Mikado plain and simple.

Match 38: Exiles VS Bosom Buddies

Exiles

Lee

-VS-

Bosom Buddies

Steph

Steph wins the flip and elects to take evens.

Both players keep.



        TURN 1 (Lee Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Lee sets a resource and recruits Blink, rallying into Sage and shifting sage with 1 counter. Lee passes.

Steph sets a resource and recruits Moonstar and passes.

    COMBAT PHASE

Steph activates Moonstar, returning her to her hand to rally for a plot twist 3 times (revealing intergalactic Summit, Black Box and the select) scoring them all.

lee swings direct with Blink for 1.

    RECOVERY PHASE

    Exiles -> 50    Bosom Buddies -> 49




        TURN 2 (Steph Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Steph sets a resource and recruits Moonstar then shifts Cable Dayspring shifted with 1 counter and passes.

Lee sets and flips the Omniverse team-ing up exiles and X-men rallying into a Beak saves, keeping it. he then shifts 2 marikos, each shifted with 1 counter and passes.

    COMBAT PHASE

Steph activates Moonstar, returning her to her hand to rally for a plot twist 3 times again, (revealing deadpool, bodyslide and we can rebuild him) placing deadpool on the bottom of her deck. She passes.

Lee swings direct with blink for 1.

    RECOVERY PHASE

    Exiles -> 50    Bosom Buddies -> 48




        TURN 3 (Lee Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Lee sets and Flips Panoptichron, shifting blink for 0 and placing a shift counter on Sage. he then places a shift counter on Blink and shifts her back into play, rallying into a proteus, shifting it with a shift counter from her effect. Lee then spends his remaining 2 resources to place a shift counter on one of the Mariko's, and a second counter on Proteus

Steph sets a resource and recruits Moonstar and deadpool, independant contractor in the hidden area.

    COMBAT PHASE

steph activates Moonstar, spinning her back to her hand and pallying again (revealing The Select, Deadpool, earth 5021, and Cable, soldier x) she places the two characters on the bottom and leeps the Select.

Lee swings direct for 1.

Steph swings direct for 4

    RECOVERY PHASE

    Exiles -> 46    Bosom Buddies -> 47




        TURN 4 (Steph Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Steph sets a resource and flips up a rowed Heroes of Two Worlds (discarding Moonstar) to search out three Visions. removing 2 and keeping one. She then flips up a second Heroes of Two Worlds (discarding Vision) the fetch 2 cable, daysprings and a cable, soldier X. she rfp's the daysprings and keeps the 2 drop.

She plays We can rebuild Him (discarding Intergalactic Summit) to shift and KO vision to draw 2 cards. and then recruits Cable, soldier X and flips p a rowed The Select to crossover X-Force and Weapon X and rallying into a Bosom Buddies. Then she plays another The Select from her hand rallying into another Bosom Buddies. She then plays Losing the Arguement from her hand drawing 2 and stacking the top of her deck with 2 cards from her hand. She then plays Call in a favor from her hand (discarding Deadpool) to search out Deadpool.
(Lee discards Shadowcat to search out Cable.)

Steph then recruits Moonstar protecting Cable and passes her build.

Lee sets a resource and activates Panoptichron on Blink shifting her with 0 counters and placing a third counter on one of the marikos.

He shifts Proteus into play and activates it to place a counter on Blink and shifts her into play. her effect triggers and she rallies into a Longshot, shifting it.

"Wow she just can't miss today!"

Lee shifts Longshot into playin his hidden front row next to his Blink and calls out Bodyslide, (wiffing it) and recruits Cable, secret avenger into play protecting it before playing Beak Saves from his hand to shift proteus with 1 counter. he spends his last resource to place a second counter on proteus and shifts him back into play. he then shifts mariko into play (dealing 8 damage to Steph) and then shifts Sage into play to draw 5 cards. and plays another Beak Saves from his hand to shift out Sage with a counter.

Lee activates Proteus to place a second COunter on Sage and shiftes her back into play to draw 5 more cards. he plays a rowed Bodyslide to remove Mariko from play and flips up a second Panoptichron, shifting out proteus to place teh remaining counters needed to shift Mariko back into play. he shifts her in for another 8 damage to Steph and passes.

    COMBAT PHASE

Steph activates Moonstar spinning it back to her hand (rallying into Moonstar, Bodyslide and we can rebuild) tossing moonstar to the bottom of her deck and netting the rest.

She plays We can rebuild to shift ko and draw 2 from vision, then plays The select (rallying into We can rebuild)
She then plays We can rebuild (discarding Bodyslide) to draw 2 more.
Then its another The Select (hitting only human) and two techo -organic viruses for 4 cards. Steph then declares her first team attack into  Cable, playing Bosom Buddies and Cable rallies into a deadpool, failing the rally. cable stuns easily. She continues with another team attack into Sage, playing another Bosom Buddies. Cable triggers again rallying into losing the arguement and Sage stuns.

Then Steph plays Black Box, placing 2 Techno-organic Virises and a moonstar on the bottom of her deck and drawing a card. She then plays a Heroes of 2 Worlds from her hand (discarding Moonstar) to search out three Moonstars, remove 2 from play and keep one.

she plays 2 cutting Loose from her hand to pump her little pals and plays Losing the arguement, drawing 2 and then stacking the top 2 cards of her deck. and then plays heroes of 2 worlds from her hand (discarding Moonstar failing to search for three same named characters)

She declares another team attack into Sunfire and plays Bosom Buddies from her hand for another easy stun. lee plays Bodyslide from his hand to remove Moonstar from play to reset the attack and waste the pump. Cable triggers and rallies into Cutting Loose, Immediately playing it to pump her two special friends.

She then plays Black Box to shufle three We can rebuil hims into her deck and draws a card. She tehn plays techno organic Virus to draw 2. adn another Black Box to shuffle 3 bodyslides into her deck then drawing a card.
She then flips up the Peak and places techo-organic Virus on the bottom of her deck and follows it up with a Have  ablst! (discarding Bodyslide) to replace her own Peak.
The flips up the recently replaces resource and plays techno-organic Virus to draw 2, then plays another. Then follows with we can rebuild (discarding Moonstar) to vision combo for 2 more cards.

Steph then declares another team attack into Longshot with a Bosom Buddies. Cable rallies into We can rebuild and Longshot stuns.

Steph plays We can rebuild (discarding Deadpool) to draw 2.

She plays Black Box (placing 2 bosom buddies and a techno-organic virus into her deck) and draws a card.

she plays We can rebuild him and lee begins to snore loudly. (discarding Cable) and follows it up with another virus to draw 2. Then another We can Rebuild (discarding Bodyslide) for 2 more

She declares a team attack direct, playing Bosom Buddies for 25 direct. Cable rallies into Bosom Buddies and everyone groans.

She sends them on another team swing direct playing another bosom buddies and cable triggers rallying into The Peak. Then she team swings them direct again and cable rallies into techno-org virus. she plays it and draws 2 emptying her deck and playing another bosom Buddies.
swinging them again and playing another bosom buddies to swing yet again before they finally attack normally with a power-ed up deadpool.

Steph passes.

Both mariko's enter play burning for 10 each. He plays warp Shards on Cable which is PA'd. He plays another Warp Shards, which is also PA'd then a third one finally removes Cable from play.

Both mariko's enter play burning for 10 each. He plays warp Shards on Cable which is PA'd. He plays another Warp Shards, which is also PA'd then a third one finally removes Cable from play.

Blink and both mariko's then swing direct. Lee powers up Blink and passes.


    RECOVERY PHASE

    Exiles -> -105    Bosom Buddies -> -3


Bosom Buddies wins!


Thoughts:

Lee - for just a second I thought she was stalled and that I had it.
Almost... ALMOST.

Steph - I was nursing a bosom buddies at the end but didnt want to use it until I had done everything possible. Makes for a long turn doing it that way though. if that replacement on myself had failed i actually would have failed to empty the deck and likely lost.

Match 39: Chess Press VS Captain Italy

Chess Press

Lee

-VS-

Captain Italy

Steph

Lee wins the flip and elects to take odds.

Both players Mulligan.



        TURN 1 (Lee Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Lee sets a resource and passes.

Steph sets a resource and passes.

    COMBAT PHASE

    RECOVERY PHASE

    Chess Press -> 50    Captain Italy -> 50




        TURN 2 (Steph Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

steph sets a resource and passes.

Lee sets a resource and recruits Dr. Minerva (revealing Lunatic Legion, Abbihilation protocol and brother I sattelite, missing on her effect.

    COMBAT PHASE

Minerva swings for 2.

    RECOVERY PHASE

    Chess Press -> 50    Captain Italy -> 48




        TURN 3 (Lee Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Lee sets a resource and And recruits Ahmed hidden revealing a rowed Sarge Steel for Loyalty.and activates Ahmed (koing the rowed Sarge Steel) to place a Checkmate Safe House, flipping it and teaming up Checkmate and Kree. he then passes.

Steph sets a resource and plays Straight to teh Grave from her hand (sending Dr. Doom, richards rival to her KO pile) Afterwards she plays Reconstruction program to place doom into her hand and recruits him visible. his effect resolves and she places a Lust for Power on the top of her deck.

    COMBAT PHASE

Lee passes.

Steph sends Doom over Dr. Minerva for a stun and passes.

    RECOVERY PHASE

    Chess Press -> 46    Captain Italy -> 48




        TURN 4 (Steph Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Steph sets a resource and recruits The Captain and passes.

Lee sets a resource and flips and activates Stargate (discarding Lunatic legion) to spin Minerva back to his hand and search out Lieutenant Kona Lor. He then recruits Minerva (revealing Brother I sattelinte, Hala, and Captain Att-lass) keeping the Att-Lass. She then presses Att-Lass into play and finally presses neutralization protocol into play before passing.

    COMBAT PHASE
The Captain gains the name Cable and draws Steph a card.

Steph sends Doom into Captain Att-Lass. Lee reinforces with Minerva.
Steph follows up with Captain Cable into neutralization Protocol. Once legal She flips up Lust for Power KOing Doom and plays a rowed Techno-organic Virus to draw 4. Then plays a Savage Beatdown on it. Lee responds, flipping up Penal Colony (discarding Kona Lor) and then activates Checkmate safehouse for +1 DEF. And allows the stun. He then activates Penal Coleny to spin Captain Att-Lass top his hand.

Both pass to recovery.

    RECOVERY PHASE

    Chess Press -> 34    Captain Italy -> 48




        TURN 5 (Lee Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
Lust for Power triggers, And instead of a draw reveals 2x recon programs, Savage Beatdown, Straight to the Grave and Techno Organic Virus netting all of them.
(Lee draws 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Lee sets a resource, and plays Enemy of my Enemy from his hand (discarding Att-Lass) to fetch Annihilation Protocol. Then he activates Stargate to return Minerva to his hand (discarding Alan Scott) and searches out Admiral Galen Kor. Lee tehn recruits dr. Minerva triggering her effect (revealing  Minerva, ultimus and lunatic legion) keeping Minerva. He then activates Penal Colony to spin Minerva back to his hand and presses her into play again for 1. where she wiffs. lee tehn flip up Brother I satteline (discarding a Minerva) to fetch Dylon Cir and presses him into play for 1. he then presses Admiral Galen Kor for 1 and uses neutralization protocol to stun Dr. Minerva to gain a resource point for OMACs and presses Annihilation Protocol into play. He then attaches Universal Weapon to Admiral Galen Kor. Then passes.

Steph sets and Flips Null Time Zone and calls Lunatic Legion.
She then plays techno Organic Virus to draw 4 and recruits The Captain and Moonstar and passes.

    COMBAT PHASE
Captain Cable gains the name Annihilus and Steph draws a card.
The Captain gains the name Blink and Steph draws a card.

Lee declares Dylon Cir into Captain Cable Annihilus. Once legal, he ctivates Ahmed (KOing Stargate to fetch brother Eye) She flips up a second stargate and activates the Brother Eye for a potential +5 ATK.
Steph chains Wave of destruction to the Brother EYE activation and pays 5 endurance, to replace every resource Lee controls. Lee chains Stargate onto Ahmed for safety (discarding Lunatic Legion) and searches for Shatterax. before kissing his row goodbye, replacing everything. he then flips up rook Control and dylon Cir lands a +1 ATK pump.

Steph then activates Moonstar, spinneing her to her hand to rally for a plot twist 3 times (rallying into The Captain, Common Bond and Techno organic Virus) placing cap on the bottom of her deck. She then plays the virus to draw 4 and plays bodyslide, removing captain Blink from play. and then a second one, removing captain Cable Annihilus from play and resetting the attack.

Lee shrugs and sends everything direct, totalling 32 damage. Lee passes.

At the start of Steph's attack step both Captains return to play, (minus their names) Steph declares the lead captain into neutralization protocol and plays a common bond from her row (discarding Flame Trap ) and two common Bonds from her hand (discarding Pathetic attempt and savage beatdown to grant both Captains +12 ATK this turn. She then plays trouble with Dinos from her hand to give her attacker +6 ATK. Lee
checks his facedowns and eventually passes and Neutralization Protocol goes down.
The second Captain then swings into Dylon Cir. Once lgal, Steph plays a savage beatdown from her hand and plays Straight to the Grave from her hand (sending The Captain) and then plays two reconstruction programs to power-up her attacker twice.
Dylon Cir stuns for monster breakthrough and the game is over.

Steph passes.


    RECOVERY PHASE

    Chess Press -> -18    Captain Italy -> 11


Captain Italy Wins!


Thoughts:

Lee - Steph just had my number this week. I was absolutely unprepared for that Wave of Destruction.

Steph - This deck is amazing! Doing this on an off-initiative is just nuts!

Match 40: COMBEX VS Black Bamboo

COMBEX

JS

-VS-

Black Bamboo

Aaron

Aaron wins the toss 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 Black Bolt, enemy within in his visible support row and passes.

JS sets a resource and recruits Blink in his hidden support row (rallying into Enemy of my Enemy) failing. he then passes.

    COMBAT PHASE

Aaron sends Black Bolt direct for 1.

Js sends Blink Into Black bolt for a stun.

    RECOVERY PHASE

Aaron recovers Black Bolt.

    COMBEX -> 49    Black Bamboo -> 49




        TURN 2 (JS Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

JS sets a resource and recruits Puppet Master in his visible area.

Aaron sets a resource and plays Straight to the grave from his hand (sending Vision to the KO pile.) he then shifts vision for 1, KOing it to draw 2. Then he flips up We can rebuild him (discarding Wolverine, unleashed) to shift vision and ko for 2 more cards. The he plays yet another we can rebuild (discarding Sub-mariner) to draw 2 and somehow, unsurprisingly, plays a third We can rebuild (discarding Hypnotic Charms) to draw 2 again.

He then recruits Orb in his hidden support row, before finally passing.

    COMBAT PHASE

JS activates Puppet Master.
Aaron exhausts Orb. JS passes.

Aaron declares Black Bolt into Puppet Master. Once legal, playing Straight to the Grave (sending Green Goblin to the KO pile) and then flips up Hypnotic Charms, shooting Black Bolt to an 8/8 for an easy stun.

    RECOVERY PHASE

JS recovers Puppet Master.

    COMBEX -> 41    Black Bamboo -> 49




        TURN 3 (Aaron Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Aaron sets a resource and activates Orb's effect (discarding Caliban) to draw a card and then recruits Spider-Girl protecting Black Bolt and passes.

Js sets a resource and reveals Huntress to meet Blackthorn's loyalty requirements, recruiting her into his hidden area and flips up a rowed 31st century metro to crossover Checkmate and Exiles. He then passes.

    COMBAT PHASE

Js activates Puppet Master. Aaron exhausts Spider-Girl and then swings Black Bolt into Puppet master. Once legal, he plays Enemy of my Enemy (discarding Spider-Man, the spider) to search for Chemo, toxic waste.

Puppet master stuns to an 11/11 Black Bolt and Aaron passes.

Js flips and activates Panoptichron to shift out Black Thorn shifted with 0 counters. He then passes.

    RECOVERY PHASE

Js recovers Puppet Master.

    COMBEX -> 30    Black Bamboo -> 49




        TURN 4 (JS Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Js sets a resource and recruits Siryn protected by Puppet Master and passes.

Aaron sets a resource and recruits Dr. Doom, richards rival protecting Black Bolt. He chains a rowed enemy of my enemy to Doom's effect (discarding Spider-man, the spider) to grab Blade, independant contractor. Doom resolves and places a Have a Blast! on the top of Aaron's deck and Aaron then follows up recruiting Chemo hidden and protecting Orb. orb activates (discarding Blade) to draw a card. Aaron loses 1 from Siryn's effect.

    COMBAT PHASE

JS activates Puppet Master, almost arbitrarily at this point. Aaron exchausts Chemo And Siryn deals 1 damage from her effect.

JS declares Siryn into Dr. Doom, Aaron KO's Chemo to replace Panoptichron. JS chains 31'st century metro's effect to give puppet master Checkmate and Exiles affiliations and activates Panoptichron to shift it out, placing 2 shift counters on Black Thorn.
Panoptichron gets replaced. Doom stuns. JS passes.

Aaron sends his 14/14 Blck bolt into Siryn passing once legal and Siryn stuns. Spider-Girl then attacks direct for 5.

    RECOVERY PHASE

JS recovers Siryn.

Aaron recovers Doom.

    COMBEX -> 15    Black Bamboo -> 41




        TURN 5 (Aaron Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Aaron sets a resource and activates Orb I (discarding Black Bolt) to draw a card. Then he loses 1 from Siryn's effect. He then recruits ethan Edwards and forms with Spider-girl and ethan protecting Black Bolt and Doom respectively.

Js sets a resource, and plays Enemy of my Enemy from his hand (discarding Siryn) to fetch Ahmed and receals Huntress to recruit him hidden. He then plays a rowed enemy of my Enemy (discarding Mr. Sinister) to fetch Black Thorn and revealing Huntress, Recruits Blackthorn hidden as well. He then flips up and activates Panoptichron.

Aaron goes into the tank for a while planning out his options. he decides to evade Spider-girl targetting Siryn. JS responds with pathetic Attempt. aaron chains Have a Blast! from his row (discarding Enemy of my enemy) to replace Panoptichron.
Js laughs and chains Ahmed, KOing Panoptichron to search out...
um...
"There is only TWO?!?"

The chain resiolves and Ahmed sets a Brother I sattelite into his row, face down and Panoptichron resolves, Shifting Black Thorn and placing 2 shift counters on puppet Master.

"Unbelievable. It was OVER! All this deck needed was one more!"

He shifts Puppet Master and Blackthorn into play and releases a long drawn sigh as he forms them both in his visible characters in the support row.

"Go."

    COMBAT PHASE

Aaron declares Black Bolt into Siryn at 14/14 and Js flips up a second 31st century Metro, KOing the first to uniqueness and crosses over X-men and Checkmate. he activates the  location to grant puppet master x-men and checkmate and reinforces Siryn.

Aaron then swing Dr. Doom into puppet master for an unrequited stun before sending ethan direct with 22 ATK.

Both players pass.

    RECOVERY PHASE

    COMBEX -> -16    Black Bamboo -> 38


Black Bamboo wins!


Thoughts:

JS - unbelievable. I mean who designs a deck to be such a consistent infinite burn and doesn't run a playset of the essential components? I mean sure, yeas ultimately, Its on me and I should have remembered there were only two panoptichrons. But still...

Aaron - I'll have more commentary when my heart leaves my throat. That was nuts.

The Goods: Kingmaker Week 3

Week 3 is here! Lets take a quick look at our KINGMAKER match-ups as we go over:

With week 2 behind us lets take a brief moment to remember the fallen. So please, a moment of silence for Sniper Shot, Moloid Burn, Secret Avengers, Crisis Doom, Hulk Smash, Xbox, Neutron Stall and Horsemen Stall...

While some eliminations were rightly so, others seemed to fall victim to improbably difficult matchups, twice in a row. Regardless, to those that have passed on, WE SALUTE YOU.


LOSERS BRACKET - ROUND 2
So this week we split our brackets to equalize our results. We will only be playing the 8 Loser bracket games this week, to allow the loser bracket to catch-up with the winners bracket. This means we will have 8 matches this week and 8 more matches next week. This also helps equalize content and gives me a much needed break from writing these out a SLEW incredibly time consuming reports, deck-lists and bat-reps. I don't care WHO you are: over 70 articles within a three week period deserves a light week. That said, So lets review the lists fighting to stay in the hunt, shall we? While the pilot pairings are still mostly balanced, you'll notice some pilots gravitating towards personal favorites and comfort picks as they apply.


Match 33: Spider-Stall(Lee) VS (Aaron)Ultimates
Spider-Stall has the tools it needs to put this one to bed. Between Lex on 5, Human Torch on 6, and a couple of potential Omnis, Stall may be the best equipped to run away in this match-up. If Ultimates can land a timely stun on a key character however, They are suddenly a clint away from turning the tide. A combo deck hidden in a curve designed to be as consistent as Curve Sentinels, the key will be controlling them right into the Koriand'r win condition.
- Favored to win: Spider-Stall

Match 34: Quickfate(Steph) VS (Mark)Highest Voltage
This one will go fast. With Highest Voltage's reliance on quicksilver to attack to compliment its substantial burn damage, my impression is that it will always be facing a stunback from a fated opposing quicksilver, limiting its effectiveness, and by extension, the value of its for-the-turn attack pumps. Quickfate on the other hand does 1 thing exceedingly well. Almost shockingly so. When any VS System deck hits this kind of consistency and speed few other things tend to matter. For me personally, Highest Voltage's lack of reinforcement from their mixed roster locks my pick to win.
- Favored to win: Quickfate

Match 35: Invisible tOUCH(JS) VS (Aaron)Fantastic Fun 2.0
Fantastic fun with an amazing draw can go off as early as turn 4. With a GOD draw, they can technically go off on 3. Short of that, I expect the ladies to get together and vote out the combo deck.
- Favored to win: Invisible tOUCH

Match 36: Just ONE(Mark) VS (Josh)Secret Society Control
Secret Society is fast becoming a bit of a fan favorite with its assumed bad match-ups turned into combo'd SUPERPUMPS. Riding some big swings to some surprising victories. It has a few things going for it in this match:
-Easy and consistent access to Chemo through Ivy.
-A searcher that only costs 2.
-Consistent recursion that does not rely on plot twists.
Watch out for Just ONE though. This is a deck it LOVES to be matched against. And Ivy is a perfect Reign target.
- Favored to win: Just ONE

Match 37: Migga City(Josh) VS (Mark)SHIELD Burn
After a heartbreaking loss to Both Guns, Migga City is out for revenge and wielded by the same Pilot. Finally able to prioritize an early game beatdown approach in one of its matchups.
SHIELD however is notorious for its ability to not need Wolverine to seal the deal. While this puts it as a favorite to win, I am unconvinced we've seen the last of Migga City and will not be surprised to see the upset here.
- Favored to win: SHIELD Burn

Match 38: Exiles(Lee) VS (Steph)Bosom Buddies
Well here we are.
MEV giant vs MEV giant.
Winner stays and loser hangs up their hat.
While both can win on turn 4, it is worth noting, that when Exiles combo out, they can easily put so many bodies into play that Bosom Buddies may never get those coveted face shots. With that said, on paper, with an ideal situation, Bosom Buddies can team attack over 17 times. That's 6 EXTRA face shots MORE than the most characters in play Exiles has ever ended the game with so far in this event. That is just BONKERS damage output.
Favored to win: Bosom Buddies

Match 39: Chess Press(Lee) VS (Steph)Captain Italy
Captain Italy is an inspired build. But the lack of reinforcement removal may be its end. On turn 5 we typically see Chess Press fielding 7 characters. that many reinforcement options may prove to be too much. Beyond that, lets not forget mitigating damage via a playset of cover fires.
Favored to win: Chess Press

Match 40: COMBEX(JS) VS (Aaron)Black Bamboo
the fact the COMBEX exists outside of the undefeated bracket speaks to the effectiveness of a fast win vs the combo build. Now we've already seen some supremely unlikely victories, so I'm not saying it is IMPOSSIBLE for Black Bamboo to pull out the win it needs... But with its simple engine components and the consistency of Checkmate's ability to set the table, Dinner may be served early. And tonights menu calls for steamed Bamboo, with a side of deep fried Black Bolts.
Favored to win: COMBEX

Agree with my thoughts this week?
Think I'm on crack with my logic?
Let me know either by replying to this post or in the 

VS SYSTEM COLLECTIVE FACEBOOK GROUP

Postgame Report: Week 2!

This week we wave goodbye to 8 of our teams as the first eliminations are secured in the loser's bracket, and several completely unexpected results! Join me as we chew the fat on this week's...

Before we get into things, remember! The actual Match reports on on my Blog post history on the right (view in web browser mode)
You can take a look at the tournament bracket as it takes shape

 BY CLICKING HERE

Match 17: Sniper Shot VS Black Bamboo

Despite receiving a brutal early game beating, Sniper shot managed to take things to the late game, but couldn't quite secure the win with a huge wiff on turn 7, forcing an underdrop.

Final: Sniper Shot  ELIMINATED BY  Black Bamboo

-3  to  27

Match 18: Captain Italy VS Moloid Burn 

Games like this have be questioning why on earth Moloid burn was here instead of War Paint. Begone.

Final: Captain Italy  ELIMINATES  Moloid burn

0  to  -32

Match 19: Secret Avengers VS Bosom Buddies

Nothing about this was close... or short. Secret Avengers Proved to be victims here, Never finding their favorable matchup. Bosom buddies might be registered sex offenders after this one.

Final: Secret Avengers  ELIMINATED BY  Bosom Buddies

-143 to -1 

Match 20: SHIELD Burn VS Crisis Doom 

 Doom puts things back into the players hand for board control and runs a hard counter to Wolverine direct. The answer? Don't play Wolverine, and profit hard.

Final: SHIELD Burn  ELIMINATES  Crisis Doom

7 to -1

Match 21: Secret Society VS Hulk Smash

One of these two teams Managed a swing for 20 on turn 4 and then again for 21 on turn 6. Dealing some shocking pumps to some pretty surprising characters...
Oh yeah, the plot twist? It wasn't Hulk.

Final: Secret Society  ELIMINATES  Hulk Smash

12 to -13

Match 22: Fantastic Fun 2.0 VS Xbox

One of the closest games of the week! Fantastic Fun squeaks to another round by the skin of its teeth.

Final: Fantastic Fun 2.0  ELIMINATES  Xbox

-12 to -16

Match 23: Highest Voltage VS Neutron Spider-Stall

A victim of two horrible match-ups, Neutron fought valliantly, but could not stretch an opening into a viable endgame.

Final: Highest Voltage  ELIMINATES  Neutron Spider-Stall

23 to -18

Match 24: Ultimates VS Horsemen Stall

Our final "fight or die" match, shows the Ultimates do something they don't often do.
A turn 6 win via War Machine Armor instead of trying to go off with Thor.

Final: Ultimates  ELIMINATE  Horsemen Stall

40 to -4

Match 25: TNNB VS Spider-Stall

God hands were drawn. Spider-stall did what it could.

Final: TNNB  DEFEATS  Spider-Stall

35 to -28

Match 26: Quickfate VS Randomizer

Randomizer bet EVERYTHING that quickfate wouldn't end them on turn 3.

They bet right. then swung for the fences. Hail to the new speed king?

Final: Quickfate  DEFEATED BY  Randomizer

-24 to -4

Match 27: Doomsdays Boomday VS Invisible tOUCH

This was supposed to be a pick everyone got right. This was supposed to be the one you could bet the farm on. Invisible tOUCH fails to dig deep enough to land the final Cosmic Radiation with only 2 cards remaining in their deck. This means they can't quite end on turn 4 with 24 out of 25 Ballot counters on rigged elections. With their only arkham character shifted at the top of 5, Omnipotence secures it. (calling rigged elections to prevent use of its payment power) Rather than face 2 to 3 more turns of losing in slow motion. Lee (the invisible tOUCH player) embraces Quicksilver, house of M's auto-lose condition.

Final: Doomsdays Boomday  DEFEATS  Invisible tOUCH

Quicksilver, House of M Auto-Loss.

Match 28: Rad Man VS Just ONE

With two builds perpetually denying plot twists, the winner was determined by who can naturally draw their cards and hit harder. This was one to watch coming right down to the wire.

Final: Rad Man  DEFEATS  Just ONE

0 to -5

Match 29: Migga City VS Both Guns Blazing

This nail-biter was determined by the combination of luck and a reckless formation step on turn 8.
Yep. Turn 8. but Both Guns manages to put down a Migga field consisting of Human Torch, Joker, headline stealer and a Scarlet Witch. Curious how the hell that even happens? Short version: Human Torch in the front row with a huge roy harper attack leading into a wiped board and a faceshot.

Final: Migga City  DEFEATED BY  Both Guns Blazing

-6 to 0

Match 30: Wolvie Direct VS Exiles

Want to know just how good a great Exiles draw can be in a post-Blink3 meta? How about insanely good? How about ending within 3 endurance of a full combo'd Wolverine direct kill turn on turn 4?
Exiles lose the game but win some serious respect.

Final: Wolvie Direct  DEFEATS  Exiles

-4 to -7

Match 31: Sentinels 2.0 VS Chess Press

This match-up was hyped as another easy pick and expected to be pretty one-sided but Chess Press did not go quietly into the night.

Final: Sentinels 2.0  DEFEATS  Chess Press

19 to 0

Match 32: Anti-Matter VS COMBEX

Anti-Matter had one hope: Win on turn 3.
Scoring a fortunate early hand, they did.

Final: Anti-Matter  DEFEATS  COMBEX

35 to -2

So what have we learned? You know, aside from the fact that "favorites" seem to be pretty loose suggestions rather than informed fact. I still can't get over that Doomsday game.

Tune in later this weekend as we breakdown the matchups of week 3!