So lets start this thing off right, shall we? Starting with the Decks fighting for their lives.
LOSERS BRACKET - ROUND 1
Having lost last week the rest of the tourney for these guys will be a "Win or Die" mentality. That said a few serious contenders await here in the seedy underbelly of the Springtime Smackdown. With a few already having faced their bad matchups it may be smoother sailing than anticipated for some favorites that took a week 1 hit.
Match 17 - Sniper Shot(Mark) VS (Josh)Black Bamboo
Who hits their "answer" card first? That's will very likely be your winner. Sniper Shot has some really streamlined search and black bamboo is a list almost entirely of concealed answers sprinkled with popular tech.
I feel like Bambo has alot of favorable interactions to stand on, but then again, a few well placed Sniper Shots will ruin everything if they over-commit resources into their beefier tech options. The later the game stretches the better Sniper-Shot will fare. I suspect this game may rest on the back of a timely Pathetic Attempt.
Favored to Win: Black Bamboo
Match 18 - Captain Italy(Steph) VS (JS)Moloid Burn
I need to be honest here. Moloid Burn hasn't impressed me one bit. With an all-in that doesn't happen until turn 5 I feel like Captain Italy will get far too much time to prep for a ridiculous swing. Initiatives matter in this one. BIG TIME.
Favored to Win: Captain Italy
Match 19 -Secret Avenger Rush(Aaron) VS (Lee)Bosom Buddies
Two decks desperate to outperform the other, they both feature weak defensive turns and remarkable potent offensive ones. However, Natasha Romanoffs ability threatening hidden deadpools may be just enough to stem the counterswings from Bosom Buddies. I may be wishful here, but i think Avengers have the edge.
Favored to Win: Secret Avenger Rush
Match 20 - SHIELD Burn(Mark) VS (Josh)Crisis Doom
Another recipient of the "Worst Two Consecutive Matches" award, Crisis Doom plays into a deck that doesn't tend to care about well... ANY of his removal.
Favored to Win: SHIELD Burn
Match 21 - Secret Society Control(Steph) VS (Lee)Hulk Smash
Both sides feature teams that are insanely potent on their initiatives, but hulk's defensive plays, search options and draw engine are far and away superior. Expect Hulk to make a big green mess all over Secret Society in this one.
Favored to win: Hulk Smash
Match 22 - Fantastic Fun 2.0(Aaron) VS (Steph)Xbox
Fantastic fun likes to set up an effective defense before searching out its literal guns for the wombo. However Xbox likes to lean on silver bullet cards like Sage, xaviers secret weapon exactly for these kinds of matchups. No child lock until turn 5 may be problematic. And Xbox has an extremely consistent tendancy to end the game on , while a mediocre Fantastic Fun draw has been seen to end on 6. Xbox may have an easy win here.
MAY.
Fantastic fun also easily plays as a potent rush swarm of large bodies complimented by some seriously effective equpment for defensive damage. And Child chained to a Sage recruit will only leave Fantastic fun 1 turn without the Lock.
But real talk: Fantastic Fun 2.0 needs to DRAW into most of its tricks or at the very least "see" them with a Mr. Fantastic activation to have a hope to play them via thinking outside or using The 100 Ideas. Sometimes those key cards clump in a bad way while Xbox may be wielding one of the most consistent search-able builds in this event.
Favored to Win: Xbox
Match 23 - Highest Voltage(Lee) VS (JS)Neutron Spider-Stall
Welp. This is it. one of the few teams that faced two consecutive difficult matchups, Neutron Spider-Stall was designed to gut builds looking to go past 5 for their win. Neither of its two matchups so far, are doing it many favors. But all is not lost. Highest Voltage has no protection and leans heavily on Quicksilver swings to complement its extremely efficient damage engine. Between Web counters and a timely Gift-Wrapped, Neutron may yet progress. That said however...
Favored to Win: Highest Voltage
Match 24 - Ultimates(Aaron) VS (Mark)Horsemen Stall
Finally, Ultimates gets to face a matchup it was designed to be strong into. But Horsemen Stall get to claim a very similar prospect. Concussive Blast does not differentiate between hidden or visible characters and some early Sunfire's can really add insult to injury once they hit 3+ counters. The Ultimates, however, boast a turn 7 win condition during their build phase if all things line-up properly. This means that the Horsemen will need to bank on a Mr. Sinister activation to negate one Thor burn, and anything else they can muster to prep for a potent counterswing considering the crazy amounts of damage multiple Thor activations this ultimates build tends to showcase.
Favored to Win: Ultimates
MAIN BRACKET - ROUND 2
Ahh yes the victors of round 1. None of these teams will be eliminated this week. So a few bad matchups can be forgiven here. The question however, remains:
Who will drop to the Losers bracket?
Match 25 - TNNB(Steph) VS (Josh)Spider-Stall
Spider-Stall has all the tools for this one. All it needs to do is survive the early game... and pray TNNB doesn't draw the nuts on turn 1. The discerning gentlemen gambler will go with Spider-Stall. The fanboy will cheer on a TNNB God-draw.
Favored to Win: Spider-Stall
Match 26 - Quickfate(Mark) VS (JS)Randomizer
I feel like these teams are meeting far too early. If quickfate can't put it to bed with odd initiatives on 3, it will become anybody's game. Roll the dice if you need to, because this can go either way. The edge favors Quickfate for this one.
Favored to Win: Quickfate
Match 27 - Doomsday's Boomday(Mark) VS (Lee)Invisible tOUCH
Combat redux meets a non-combat alternate win condition.
barring horrendous draws from Invisible tOUCH, this is EASILY the mismatch of the week.
Favored to Win: Invisible tOUCH
Match 28 - Rad Man(JS) VS (Josh)Just ONE
Both builds really enjoy locking out plot twists on turn 3-4, This one will be determined by whether or not Rad-Man draws the BPRD signal device early enough to deny Just ONE's Field Control. If rad man gets exhausted or stunned a timely Reign can force an honest match for Rad Man.
Favored to Win: Just ONE
Match 29 - Migga City(Josh) VS (Aaron)Both Guns Blazing
Migga City mains no resource hate, does not run Lex Luthor its most viable defensive tech at first glance, is Human Torch on turn 6. If both Guns get an even inititive it could be effectively over before human torch can ever be played. Guns' inherent weakness however is a bad draw, (just as often as a good one) can seal the game.
But looking closer we see a bit more versatility in MIgga's ability to disrupt the Gun show.
Between The Joker on 4 and Scarlet Witch on 5, Things for guns could become a little bit... lets say problematic For guns to be able to do its thing without reprisal, and the signifigance of a playset of Pathetic Attempts is not lost on me either.
Favored to Win: Migga City
Match 30 - Wolverine Direct(Steph) VS (Mark)Exiles
This one is all about consistency.
Exiles consistently win on an explosive 5.
Wolverine Direct consistently wins on a multi-swinging turn 4.
Favored to Win: Wolverine Direct
Match 31 - Sentinels 2.0(Lee) VS (Josh)Chess Press
Now, I'm not going to say that Political Pressure is an Autowin here, but Jumpin snot this is a helluva favorable match for Sentinels 2.0 (as long as they hit it.) And I honestly didn't think I'd say that at all about the Sentinels in this event.
Favored to Win: Sentinels 2.0
Match 32 - Anti-Matter(Aaron) VS (JS)COMBEX
Speed vs a deck with a single-minded purpose of setting up an infinite loop by turn 4. (technically a perfect hand allows this on turn 3) The crux of analyzing this game is simple: "Can Anti-Matter push that kind of damage fast enough?" Turn 3 wins aren't necessarily RARE in a golden age format like this, but in my opinion. Anti-Matter needs to end on three, or hope COMBEX draws badly to fail to go infinite on 4 to secure a win here. Given the consistency in COMBEX, I have to give it the edge here.
Favored to Win: COMBEX
Agree with my breakdowns? Disagree? let me know and contact me either by replying to this post or by messaging me on the VS SYSTEM Facebook Group!
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