Punisher Tank? More like Punisher SPANK: A Remix WORLDS 2024 Recap

 

With a massive Christmas patch adding a veritable SLEW of new legend options, support and card fixes, the table was set for a high-octane trial of champions, as they all would fight in nail-biting matches culminating the conclusion of VS Remix's third season of beatdown and general badassery. Many showed interest, but when one adds "Worlds" to an event tag, it can more often than not, lower attendance metrics for any feeling a bit sheepish regarding their skill.

After all, nobody wants to embarrass themselves, right? Hoping to offset this tendancy for the more casual players enjoying remix to balk at the free sign-up was a cornucopia of prizing, as several sponsors were quick to donate content from signed art, to signed cards, to playmats.

Regardless of these measures, our final total of participants was 7. not record setting- but not bad either, considering the quality of the player-base. I was elated and excited to get some high calibur games in.

Personally, I elected to go a bit standard with my list selection. choosing to bring Doomsday as my legend in a monoteam Revenge Squad list looking to steal turn 5 and the game on 6. I didn't run any focused tech, as, it doesn't quite sit well for me and likely for others, when the lead designer of the project wins that project's biggest event, but god damn it, there's no way I'm not going to join in on THAT sweet, sweet action! Better to play at a disadvantage than not play at all.

As the reigning overall points champ, Wes won a free round 1 bye, but it occurred to me that it wasn't exactly a big advantage with an odd number of players, so I instead elected to make the point value of the round 1 bye have a value above 1 for the purposes of edging tiebreaks in the seasonal overall leader's small favor. 

Alarm bells probably should have sounded when I noted almost half of the lists were all punisher legends running his new special sauce:

The Punisher Tank

Drugs and card design don't mix folks.

As a general rule I do my best not to pay attention to submitted lists until there is a realistic need to check them, as it presents a unique and potentially unfair advantage knowing everyone's secrets. It is also for this reason that both myself and Nick Fletcher have made it a standard practice to post our lists publicly before lists are due if we are taking part. This allows the more paranoid players to hard counter us, should they so desire. Oh and how they do.

But I digress, In Remix, vehicles are a unique character subtype can be played at a much lower cost if you overlay them on their required crew, so while the tank costs 6, and stuns for 6, it can be crewed for 2. Beyond that, the vehicle gains the name as well as uniqueness to other cards with that overlaid name, in this case, Punisher, so it's a functioning character named Punisher in its own right. Additionally, visible vehicles must be crewed by visible characters, hidden vehicles by hidden, and so on. By design, the tank only has 2 possible visible targets, the 4 drop punisher, Remix's version of Guns Blazing, and the 7 a stat refit of the legends 7 drop.. And had that been the end of the story, Things would have been fine. A free-re-readying tank. A fair interaction. And the resting silent knowledge that peace among mankind could be possible.

But no. Worlds would instead become everything besides.


Cesar Rodil  (Second place) is an interesting, amazing, talented deckbuilder and the community is better for having him in it. He lends his off the wall ideas and balancing suggestions as a casual voice in the Remix design team. Lending his credence to vetting card ideas, and an occasional revelation of broken interactions during testing.

That smug jerk.
Him and that stupid brain doing stupid things. 

He'll tell you he warned me about the interactions and i'll tell you i have no recollection of that at all, but none of it matters, suffice to say that, a simple gotham knight interaction of using batplane to move the 2 cost punisher visible allowed for a turn 3 punisher tank. And what's more, if you took a quickfate philosophy beyond that, you could suddenly produce 2 swings to the tune of 20+ ATK  by turn 3, on the body of a 10/12 tank.

And it was so, that Remix Worlds became a Punisher Tank Spank fiesta.

As the progenitor of the list, he had to test it, and that's where our champion, Alexander Hancock entered the fray. His submission another turbo Tank, except teched to win the mirror. The tech? nothing big. Just a god damn Infinity Gauntlet. Exploited into play due to the tank's overly inclusive wording on "sent" equipment.

Offering fist enemas since 1991

Alexander's list looked became:

REMIX WORLDS: 1st Place - ALEXANDER HANCOCK

Legend: Punisher (61)

CHARACTERS (18)

1x Dagger, Child of Light

4x Scarlet Witch, Twin Sister

2x Mantis, Teep Specialist

4x Punisher, Suicide Run

1x Yondu, Hunter

4x Punisher Tank

1x Star Lord, Peter Quill

1x Groot, I am Groot

PLOT TWISTS (28)

4x Combined Arms

2x Guardians, team-up

3x Crackshot

4x Flying Kick

4x Midnight Sons, Team-Up

4x Tech Upgrade

4x Wild Ride

3x Geared Up!

EQUIPMENT (15)

4x Weapon of War

3x Flamethrower

1x Cluster Flark Gun

4x Batplane, Unique - The Batwing

1x B.P.R.D. Signal Device

1x Infinity Gauntlet, Unique

1x The Necroblade, Unique

This list aims to do 1 single thing.
Team up Marvel Knights and Gotham Knights. Use Batplane to move Punisher, suicide run visible. Then tank on 3 over the visible Punisher with the biggest equipment and largest playable pumps possible. And clap that ass. Violently.

Barely into round 1, the sirens went off. Power cut, red lights spinning as lockdown protocols failed and fizzled. I became immediately acutely aware of the release of Cesar's and Alexanders monstrosity.

Word of mouth travelled fast as Darius was the first reported loss to these disproportionate margins of abuse. There was seemingly no outplay, no metric of safety against the tank.
It's unforgiving statline trumping all comers as it stole initiatives and bashed peoples brains in.
Fathers languished.
Children cried.
Mothers lamented.
Gods fell.

...and Jeremiah Johnson nodded in silent approval

But there was no sympathy that could be seen behind the tank's cold uncompromising frame.
All fell before the power of the turn 3 tank. All were made equal before it's singular might.

I myself fell across Alexander in round 2, truly, an apt summary, losing summarily in two consecutive games. My best consolation being that I had managed to live to see turn 5 in game 1. (Apparently a rarity!) Having finally seen the beast first hand, I can attest to the fact that tanks should not be liberally applied to unaware anuses. After the match, I still felt a need to stare into the abyss of my own thoughts, the invasion was forcible and I noted a sudden compulsion to find some local authorities to point at the section of the doll where the bad man touched me.

There were of course, the whirlwind of emotions playin at many competitors, at best, with these two absurd monstrosities were clearly on a collision course for the final table, perhaps we could all take solace in a fight for third place.

Ah but hunting silently across the arctic tundra, there was yet another presence. The unmistakable presence of a third Punisher Tank list. But different. Unique.

HUNGRY.

Norman Halimsetiawan. (Third place)
Known entity. Fierce card-fighter. Doting father. Absurdly gifted deck-builder. Loyal friend.
What a cock.

While not running the turbo tank engine on 3, he elected to play a more balanced concoction focusing instead on Sniper shot abuse and methodical board control through KO control. Thanks to the tank's innate re-readying, this too proved to be too much, as his list could consistently add a sniper counter during every phase with regularity. This meant it could actually land a counter during draw, build, combat AND recovery. netting scenarios where you could KO each turn and still build up to a turn where you still manage to KO a second character while doing so. All snuggled safely into a ko control list featuring other KO options. Just a brilliant build really.

And so it came to pass, that the entire top three podium of VS Remix Worlds finishers, all played Punisher legend decks focused on Punisher Tank. 

And it is here in the afterglow of our concluded event, we reflect on design errors, gameplay lessons, and the therapy sessions I will surely require before my dreams stop being haunted by indestructible skull-adorned tanks. And the adult diaper prescription such dreams forcibly mandate. 

Who does number 2 work for?

Once more, I digress, so before dropping an overcorrecting errata to the Punisher Tank, one last bow for our top finishers!

1st - Alexander Hancock
2nd - Cesar Rodil

3rd - Norman Halimsetiawan

Congratulations to all that participated, expect to hear from me as I reach out to each participant to mail out our participation and top cut prizes!

As an aside, in the future expect some closer care given to set balance from the design team. While it is fun and entertaining to celebrate those that break formats, it can be frustrating to opponents and the community when a winning deck is no longer a legal one. And that's on me. Remix remains young, and it will continue to grow as we continue to find new ways to play this wild game we all love.
Until then, See you next time around!

The Postgame Report: The Finals concluded

 All good things...

Its been 8 weeks, and what began as 32 randomly assigned teams became one.

The one.
It is an odd compulsion to bust out some ridiculous event every few years, and thoroughly exhaust myself writing match reports and organizing and maintaining betting pools, but I credit that to a fantastic game and an even better community. According to all reports, the game known as VS System is long dead.

I'm just so happy our community didn't get that memo. Something about this game soothes the soul.

Thanks for supporting the creative outlets of a dude that just wont let go!
I truly hope you enjoyed this. I know I did.

Long live VS!

*******

 

In case it isn't completely obvious, *SPOILERS AHEAD* 

So before I get into it:

SEE THE FINALS BO3 MATCH REPORT

SEE THE 3RD PLACE TIEBREAK MATCH REPORT

So go ahead and read up on those if you wish.

ok.

That was your shot.
Spoiler-time!

FINALS RESULTS:

WEE DEFEATS Dark Magic
2 games to 1

with game 3 concluding on turn 5, with a final score of: 
36  to  -5

3RD PLACE TIEBREAK RESULT:

BroStat-X  DEFEATS  Devourer of Speed 

on turn 5

with a final score of:

1  to  -18

Expect to see a follow-up post resolving our betting pool winners soon!

SEE THE COMPLETED FINALS BRACKET

THE FINALS: WEE -VS- Dark Magic

 
WEE
Pilot: Aaron Mead

-VS-

Dark Magic
Pilot: Darius Thatcher

-GAME ONE-

WEE Wins the Roll and elects to take odds.

Neither player mulligans.


        TURN 1 (Aaron Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Aaron sets a resource and recruits Crippler in his support row and passes.

Darius sets a resource and recruits Nightmaster into his front row and passes.

    COMBAT PHASE

Aaron declares Crippler into Nightmaster, once legal Darius flips up Total Anarchy.
Both players pass into a mutual stun.
Both characters KO.

    RECOVERY PHASE

WEE -> 49  Dark Magic -> 48

        TURN 2 (Darius Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Darius sets a resource and recruits Jared Stevens <> Fate.

Aaron sets a resource and recruits Chen in the hidden area.

    COMBAT PHASE

Jared swings direct for 3 and Darius passes.

Aaron exhausts Chen for Powell's effect (getting a bounty hunt) and passes.

    RECOVERY PHASE
all characters ready.

WEE -> 46  Dark Magic -> 48

        TURN 3 (Aaron Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Aaron sets ans flips up bounty hunt and recruits Man-eater into his front row before passing.

Darius sets a resource and recruits Ilsa in his support row protected by Jared and passes.

    COMBAT PHASE

Aaron activates Man-Hunter's efect to target Ilsa, and then declares Man-eater into her. Once legal, discarding a chen to Chen's effect to power-up Man-Eater to a 6/5 and passes.
Darius thinks for a while, and elects to activate Ilsa's ability, exhausting her (discarding a Conclave) to fetch new and Improved. He then passes.
Ilsa Stuns and KOS to anarchy.
Bounty hunt gains a counter.
Aaron then sends Chen into Jared. Both players pass for a mutual stun, and both KO to Total Anarchy.
Bounty hunt gains another counter.
Aaron removes 2 bounty hunt counters to draw 2 cards before passing.

Darius passes.


    RECOVERY PHASE
Man-eater readies.

WEE -> 44  Dark Magic -> 41

        TURN 4 (Darius Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Darius sets and flips New and Improved and recruits Grigori Rasputin into his front row, he then passes.

Aaron sets a resource, and flips up a rowed Mobilize (Discarding a Blind-Sided) to fetch Goldface, recruiting it in his front row (discarding 2x Fatality as an additional cost) he then recruits Capture net onto Man-eater and forms it -protected, behind Goldface before passing to combat.

    COMBAT PHASE

Darius laments his lack of flight, and sends Grigori into Goldface, once legal, playing a rowed Beatdown on him for +5 ATK. Aaron opts to not reinforce and both characters stun.
Aaron then activates man-eater's capture net to spin Grigori back to Darius' hand proccing two bounty counters to once more draw 2 cards.

Both players pass.

    RECOVERY PHASE
Aaron recovers Goldface.

WEE -> 37  Dark Magic -> 37

        TURN 5 (Aaron Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Aaron sets a resource and flips up a mobilize, (Discarding Powell) to fetch Major Force, then recruits Major force into his front row, protecting Man-eater and moving goldface into his support row adjacent to the 3 drop. He passes.

Darius sets a resource, recruiting Blue Devil, big blue. It's effect triggers and he loses 4 endurance. he shrugs and passes.
    "Hard lock to get out of."
    "That's the idea."

    COMBAT PHASE

Aaron declares Goldface into Blue Devil, once legal using Goldface's effect to KO a rowed Mobilize for +2/+2 and passing as an 11/11 attacker.
Darius powers up (Discarding a 2 cost blue devil)
Aaron responds, flipping up a rowed Empire of Tears, electing to KO two resources (A face down Powell and the face up Mobilize) leaving him with 2 resources, and activates Empire of Tears to grand Goldface another +2/+2. Both players pass and Blue Devil stuns with 2 breakthrough.
Aaron activates Man-Eater's net returning Blue Devil to Darius' hand for another 2 bounty counters and immediately spends them to draw 2 cards.
Blue Devil triggers and Darius gains 8 endurance.
Major force swings direct for 12.
Aaron passes.

Darius passes.

    RECOVERY PHASE
All characters ready.

WEE -> 37  Dark Magic -> 22

        TURN 6 (Darius Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Darius sets a resource and recruits his Nightmaster 1 drop. Then KO's it to New and Improved, then recruiting the Demon slayer, entering with 2 +1/+1 counters for 11/11 and passes.

 

Aaron sets a resource and recruits Fatality. Forming her protected by Goldface, and keeping Man-Eater protected by Major Force. before passing to combat.

    COMBAT PHASE

Darius passes combat.

 

Aaron sends Goldface into Nightmaster. Once legal, he activates Empire of tears for +2/+2, and then flips up and activates a rowed Stryker's Island. activating it for another +2 ATK. Finally he uses Goldface's effect to KO Stryker's island for another +2/+2 passing at 15/13.
Darius plays a rowed Abjuration, paying 5 endurance for +3 DEF, (since it is ongoing fatality cant negate this) and powers up for 12/15 and goes into the tank. He then plays a rowed Mobilize (discarding Jared Stevens) which is promptly degated by Fatality (KO-ing Bounty hunt leaving 1 resource) And Nightmaster stuns.

Aaron activates his catcher's mitt to spin nightmaster since his man-Eater has no range anyway, and sends fatality direct for 3, powering her up, before sending the 13/13 major force direct.

"That damn power-up."

Both players pass.

    RECOVERY PHASE

Abjuration triggers gaining 5 endurance. But it isn't enough... barely.

WEE  DEFEATS  Dark Magic
in Game One

37  -to-  0

-GAME TWO-

Darius opts to take odds for game two.

Mulligan


        TURN 1 (Darius Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Darius sets a resource and recruits Nightmaster, jim rook, then passes.

Aaron sets a resource and passes.

    COMBAT PHASE

Nightmaster swings direct for 2. both players pass.

    RECOVERY PHASE

WEE -> 48  Dark Magic -> 50

        TURN 2 (Aaron Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Aaron sets a resource and recruits Chen in his visible support row, then passes.

Darius sets a resource, recruiting Blue Devil, dan cassidy. His effect triggers and Darius loses 4 endurance.

    COMBAT PHASE

Aaron flips up a rowed Prison Planet and sends Chen into Nightmaster at 5/2. both players pass and both characters stun.

Darius sends Ble Devil direct for 4.

    RECOVERY PHASE
Aaron recovers Chen.
Darius recovers Nightmaster.

WEE -> 42  Dark Magic -> 41

        TURN 3 (Darius Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Darius sets a resource and recruits Zatanna, magical manipulator, protecting Blue Devil with Nightmaster adjacent to her.

Darius sets a resource and recruits Battlestar into his front row protecting Chen. then passing.

    COMBAT PHASE

Darius sends Zatanna and Nightmaster into Battlestar, forcing a trade with the two three drops. He then continues with Blue Devil into Chen for another mutual and passes.

Aaron Passes.

    RECOVERY PHASE
Darius recovers Zatanna, KOing Blue Devil, triggering his effect to gain 6 endurance.
Aaron recovers Battlestar, KOing Chen.

WEE -> 35  Dark Magic -> 42

        TURN 4 (Aaron Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Aaron sets a resource and recruits Goldface (discarding a Crippler and a Man-eater) forming it into his front row, protecting Battlestar.

Darius sets a resource and recruits Grigori rasputin into his front row, forming Nightmaster protecting Zatanna and passes to combat.

    COMBAT PHASE

Aaron sends Battlestar into Nightmaster.
Darius reinforces with Zatanna, and Nightmaster stuns.
Aaron continues with Goldface into Grigori and flips and activates Strykers Island for +2 ATK leaving Goldface at 13/9. for a one sided stun.

Both pass to recovery.

    RECOVERY PHASE
Darius recovers Grigori, KOing Nightmaster.

WEE -> 35  Dark Magic -> 31

        TURN 5 (Darius Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Darius plays Wake the Devil, opting to rearrange the 3 cards then drawing one. He then sets a resource and recruitd Blue Devil, big blue, losing 4 endurance from its effect and forms it behind Grigori before passing.

Aaron sets and flips Bounty Hunt, then plays a rowed Mobilize (discarding Chen) to fetch Major Force, he then recruits Major Force into his support row, moving Goldface to protect Battlestar and passes.

    COMBAT PHASE

Darius declares Blue Devil into Major Force. passing once legal.
Aaron flips up Empire of Tears, (KOing a Mobilize and the Bounty hunt as an additional cost) leaving Major Force at 11/11.
Darius plays a rowed Savage Beatdown.
Aaron exhausts Major Force for Powell's effect, removing it from play to fetch a Bounty Hunt, then passes for the mutual stun.
Darius pays 5 endurance for Grigori, KOing Major Force, before declaring a team attack into Goldface with Grigori and Zatanna.
Aaron activates Empire of Tears for+2/+2 then KO's Empire to Goldface's effect for another +2/+2, bricking the attack and passes. Darius responds with 2 zatanna power-ups to ensure the stun. Both players pass. Grigori stuns. as does Goldface.

Aaron sends battlestar into Zatanna. Once legal he activates Stryker's Island for +2 ATK.
Darius flips up a rowed Abjuration, paying 5 for +3 DEF, but zatanna's 8 DEF still falls to battlestar's 9 ATK.

    RECOVERY PHASE
Abjuration triggers, Gaining Darius 5 Endurance.
Darius recovers Blue Devil. KOing Grigori and Zatanna.
Aaron recovers Goldface.

WEE -> 50  Dark Magic -> 50

        TURN 6 (Aaron Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Aaron sets a resource, recruiting Man-Eater into his front row, and passing.

Darius sets a resource, and plays Wake the Devil, opting to place all three cards on the bottom of his deck and drawing a card. he then recruits June Moon, bad witch, protected by Blue Devil and they both pass to combat.

    COMBAT PHASE

Aaron activates Man-Eater's free effect to target June Moon. And then declares Goldface into her. Once legal he flips up Bounty Hunt and activates Stryker's Island for +3 ATK before passing.
Darius, stuck at 13 endurance is clearly reluctant to activate June Moon and goes into the tank.
    "This could be interesting."
Darius plays a Savage beatdown from his hand, targeting Aaron's attacking Goldface, then plays a rowed Conclave, paying 4 endurance to negate the beatdown.
    "haha Wow man. sneaky."
Darius then activates June Moon to stun Goldface with no penalty, now at 9 endurance. Aaron passes, Goldface stuns. With prison planet up and no ability to team swing, he passes combat.

Darius Declares Blue Devil into Man-Eater. Once legal, he flips up Total Anarchy and passes. Man-eater stuns and is KO'd.

    RECOVERY PHASE

Abjuration triggers, gaining 5 endurance.
Aaron recovers Goldface.

WEE -> 14  Dark Magic -> 14

        TURN 7 (Darius Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Darius sets a resource and plays Wake the Devil from his hand placing 1 card on the bottom of his deck and rearranging the rest on top before drawing a card. He then plays a mobilize from his hand (discarding an Accept your destiny) to fetch Shazaam, recruiting it into his support row and passing.

Aaron sets a resource, and recruits Powell and Fatality, forming Fatality behind Goldface and Battlestar behind Powell.

    COMBAT PHASE

Darius sends Shazaam into Goldface. Goldface KO's Prison Planet for +2/+2 and reinforces him with Fatality. next June Moon flies into Battlestar for a one-sided stun, then sends Blue Devil to do the same with Powell before KOing Blue Devil to his rowed New and Improved to gain 8

    RECOVERY PHASE

Endurance too high for abjuration to trigger.

WEE  DEFEATED BY Dark Magic
in Game Two
-10  -to-  22

This is it. for all the glory. All the marbles. and HELLA bragging rights!
Off to game 3 we go!

-GAME THREE-

Aaron selects odds.

Mulligan


        TURN 1 (Aaron Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Aaron sets a resource and recruits Crippler in his support row.

Darius sets a resource and passes.

    COMBAT PHASE

Aaron flips up Prison Planet and attacks direct for 4.

Both players pass.

    RECOVERY PHASE

WEE -> 50  Dark Magic -> 46

        TURN 2 (Darius Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Darius sets a resource and recruits Blue Devil before passing his build.
Blue Devil triggers, and Darius loses 4 endurance.

Aaron sets a resource and recruits Fatality, forming Crippler protecting her.

    COMBAT PHASE

Darius sends Blue Devil into Crippler.
Aaron pays 2 of Cripplers ATK and passes to the mutual stun triggering Cripplers effect.
Darius passes combat.

Aaron declares Fatality direct for 5

    RECOVERY PHASE
Darius recovers Blue Devil, but Crippler prevents Blue Devil from readying.
Aaron recovers Crippler.

WEE -> 47 Dark Magic -> 35

        TURN 3 (Aaron Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Aaron sets a resource and recruits Battlestar, forming it to protect Fatality with Crippler formed adjacent to her. he then recruits a Capture Net onto Fatality and passes.

Darius sets and flips Wake the Devil, placing 2 cards on the bottom of his deck, one on the top and drawing a card. he then recruits Zatanna forming her behind the exhausted Blue Devil and passes.

    COMBAT PHASE

Aaron sends Crippler into Blue Devil, once legal, paying 2 ATK and passing. Both players pass into a mutual stun and Crippler triggers.
Next, Aaron sends Battlestar into Zatanna at 7/5, passing once legal.
Darius flips an Abjuration, paying 5 endurance putting her at +3 DEF, triggering her effect. he elects to pay 3 to draw a card for her ability. as she manages to brick the attack.
Aaron passes Combat.

Darius elects to also pass.
Aaron activates Capture Net on Blue Devil, chaining the flip of a Bounty hunt.
Blue devil returns to Darius' hand, proccing 6 endurance gain, and Aaron immediately spends the 2 bounty counters to draw 2 cards.

    RECOVERY PHASE
Abjuration does not trigger.
Aaron recovers Crippler.

WEE -> 46  Dark Magic -> 31

        TURN 4 (Darius Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Darius plays Wake the Devil from his hand, placing 1 card on the bottom, 2 on the top and drawing a card, then sets a resource. and recruits the Mad Monk protecting Zatanna and passes.

Aaron sets a resource, and recriuts Goldface (Discarding the Shark and Powell) and forms Goldface protecting Fatality, while Crippler protects Battlestar.

They both pass to combat.

    COMBAT PHASE

Darius declares Zatanna into Goldface, once legal, playing a savage beatdown for 9 ATK.
Aaron goes into the tank, clearly debating if he should pop resources to try to brick or kiss goldface goodbye.
he plays a rowed Mobilize (Discarding Blind-Sided) and chains Fatality's effect, KO ing the mobilize resource to negate the played beatdown. The mobilize resolves, and Aaron fetches Sinestro, corrupted by the ring. Darius then adds another beatdown to the mix, flipping it up from his resource row.
    "Can't do that... Battlestar."
    "Oh shit."
The beatdown goes back facedown. Both players pass and Zatanna is stunned.
Darius then sends Grigori into Crippler for a one-sided stun and pays 1 endurance to ko it before passing his combat.

Aaron sends Goldface into Grigori for an uncontested stun. Following up with Battlestar swinging direct for 7. He activates Fatality's Capture Net to spin Grigori land 2 counters and immediately spend them to draw 2 cards before passing.

    RECOVERY PHASE
Abjuration fails to trigger.
Darius recovers Zatanna.

WEE -> 40  Dark Magic -> 14

        TURN 5 (Aaron Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Aaron sets a resource, and plays Mobilize (discarding Sinestro)
Darius plays The Conclave from his hand to negate the search paying 4 endurance.
    "Bummer."
Aaron then recruits Man-Eater protecting Battlestar followed by The Shark, also in his support row unprotected before equipping a capture net onto the Shark. He then passes his build.

Darius sets a resource and  pays 3 for Nightmaster (1) alt cost flipping up New and Improved to KO it, he then pays 3 again, oncemore KOing the 1 drop before recruiting ightmaster Demon Hunter protecting Zatanna at 13/13 and passing.

    COMBAT PHASE

    "Not looking good for you."
Aaron uses Man-eater's effect to target the protected Zatanna and sends Goldface into her. Once legal, KOing the rowed mobilize to Goldface's effect for a swing of 13 into her 5.
Darius KOs her to new and Improved. Goldface readies.
    "Huh. Using the Prison Planet against me."
    "No team swings for you... I think?"
Aaron shrugs and flips up Empire of tears, KOing Prison Planet and Bounty hunt. Then declares Goldface and Man-eater team swinging into Nightmaster.
    "That will do it." Darius passes stunning back Goldface.
Aaron continues direct with Fatality, Battlestar and The Shark for 9.

Both players pass to recovery.

    RECOVERY PHASE
Abjuration triggers, gaining 5 endurance. But it isn't enough.

WEE  DEFEATS  Dark Magic
in Game Three
36  -to-  -5
to win the series 2 games to 1!

Postgame Thoughts:

Aaron:
WEE is a beast and I think its a new fave for the BYOTT format. I'm going to build it for sure!
MVP in this series was battlestar, LowKey lockdown on big turns is gamebreaking.

Darius:

God-damned Battlestar. Definately one of those characters you just wiff on noticing his effect entirely until it kills you with a "gatcha!". Second place for this list isn't a bad time at all. It was ironic to me that focusing the anarchy play in game 1 is largely why I lost that game. It won me the TNNB matchup but WEE was just soo big up the curve, it basically was HIS board to control. You can't give away a win like that in the final and expect it to go your way.

 

And with that, our Summer of Love Champion is crowned! Stay tuned for the LAST Postgame report of the event to wrap-up our betting pool scores and winners!

 

 

THIRD PLACE TIEBREAK: BroStat-X -VS- Devourer of Speed

BroStat-X

pilot: JS

-VS-

Devourer of Speed

pilot: Wes

 

 Devourer of Speed wins the roll and takes even initiatives

JS mulligans, Wes keeps


        TURN 1 (JS Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

JS sets a resource, and recruits Doop, forward observer and passes.

Wes sets a resource, and passes.

    COMBAT PHASE

Js flips up The New Brotherhood and swings direct for 3, proccing Doops for another 1 endurance loss.

Both players pass to recovery.

    RECOVERY PHASE

BroStat-X -> 50  Devourer of Speed -> 46

        TURN 2 (Wes Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Wes sets a resource and recruits Silver Surfer. he activates its effect (Placing a Savage Beatdown to the top of his deck) and passes.

JS sets a resource, and recruits Gin Genie in his visible front row and passes.

    COMBAT PHASE

Wes passes combat.

JS declares Gin Genie into Silver Surfer. Once legal, flipping up a second TNB.
    "Jesus Christ man."
    "It isn't going to get any better either."
Both players pass into a mutual stun. Doop procs an extra damage. JS elects not to use Gin genie's effect.
Doop swings direct for 5, and procs again for 1 more. Both pass to recovery.

    RECOVERY PHASE
Wes recovers Silver Surfer.
JS recovers Gin Genie

BroStat-X -> 48  Devourer of Speed -> 33

        TURN 3 (JS Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

JS sets a resource and recruits Senyaka forming it protected by Gin Genie.

Wes sets a resource and places Silver Surfers' Board onto Silver Surfer, and recruiting XS, forming her in the front row. He activates the surfboard to place a counter on the surfer and moves him to the hidden area. He then activates silver surfer, to grab Alias Investigations and place it on top of his deck before passing to combat.

    COMBAT PHASE

JS sends Gin genie into XS for a mutual stun. Doop procs for 1 additional damage.
Senyaka continues direct for 9. Doop again triggers for 1 more damage
Then Doop goes direct for 5 once more proccing his bonus damage.
Js passes.

Wes passes.

    RECOVERY PHASE
JS recovers Gin Genie.
Wes recovers XS

BroStat-X -> 46  Devourer of Speed -> 12

        TURN 4 (Wes Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Wes sets a resource and flips up Alias Investigations. He activates Silver Surfer to place Morg on the top of his deck and then activates Alias to rally for a character, clearly succeeding. he then Recruits Morg Protected by XS, then he activates the surfboard toplace a cosmic counter onto XS. Then passes his turn.

JS sets a resource, reveals a spoor in his row and recruits the reservist, triggering senyaka's burn for 2.
Spoor enters play and JS replaces the resource with a card from hand and forms him protecting Senyaka. Moving Gin Genie to his support row.

    COMBAT PHASE

Wes sends Morg into Senyaka for a mutual stun. JS doesn't reinforce.
With a score of 40 to 8 Wes doesn't have the luxury of making it to turn 6. Wes plays Flametrap from his hand (discarding barry Allen 4, and wally West 5) to stun his own Surfer, Doop, and Gin Genie.
He then declares XS into Senyaka. Once legal, playing two rowed Beatdowns, and using XS' ability to remove her cosmic counter to ready her. he then plays Team tactics from his hand exhausting XS to her own swing sending 28 atk over Senyaka for a mutual stun.

Both players pass to recovery.

    RECOVERY PHASE
Wes Recovers Morg, KOing Silver Surfer and XS.
JS recovers Spoor, KOing Doop, Senyaka, and Gin Genie.

BroStat-X -> 10  Devourer of Speed -> 3

        TURN 5 (JS Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

JS sets a resource and plays a rowed Glory Hound, targetting Morg and replacing the resource before recruiting Sabretooth from his resource row, opting not to replace the resource. He passes forming them both in his front row.

Wes sets and plays Kindred Spirits, fetching wally west, then activating Alias investigations to rally him successfully. He recruits Wally and forms him in his support row protected by Morg and passes.

    COMBAT PHASE

Spoor swings into Morg. Once legal replacing a rowed Rem-Ram to give him +3/-3.
Wes reinforces with Wally for the mutual stun.
JS follows up with Sabretooth into Wally. Once legal playing the Next brotherhood from his hand, and a Mind over matter leaving Sabretooth swinging at 20 ATK. Both characters stun. and both players pass to recovery.

    RECOVERY PHASE

BroStat-X  DEFEATS  Devourer of Speed

1  -to-  -18

 Securing third place!

 

Postgame Thoughts:

JS:

That XS wombo scared the hell out of me, but otherwise this deck went OFF. Not much more to say than that!

Wes:
God damned double TNB by 2?
Thats "Good Game" 9 times out of ten right there.

 

 

The Postgame Report: Week 7 - Semifinals

 A shocking upset!
a 60 endurance faceshot?
All this and more, on this week's...

This week was a DOOZY!
Click on the match headers to read the actual Match reports for each game!

Match 5: BroStat-X -VS- Dark Magic

Things immediately didn't look very promising, as BroStat-X won the roll to get their desired Odd initiative.
However, as it turns out, an early Total Anarchy really REALLY helps mitigate the output of TNNBroStat-X (see what I did there?) at one point leaving the potent rusher with a board of ZERO. Dark Magic did a risky play following up the boardwipe, paying 3 to alt recruit the 1 drop Nightmaster, before KOing it to New and Improved, and then paying 20 to alt-recruit Nightmaster 5 on a defending turn, before playing a Blue Devil, also new and Improved as well, leaving them on 3 endurance, but with TWO 5 drops! But the life-gain from Blue Devil and Abjuration kept them afloat to push through the under-dropped numbers on 6 and then secure the win on turn 7 to secure the upset.
While BroStat-X remains to play in the Bronze match tiebreak, they are otherwise, eliminated.

BroStat-X  DEFEATED BY  Dark Magic
-17  to  9

 

 

Match 6: WEE -VS- Devourer of Speed

Winning the roll, Devourer had everything they could ever want in this game with a guaranteed turn 6 at their disposal, However a turn 3 Surfer Stun, limited the availability of search while Capture net began to whittle away at Devourer's field presence. Even while harassed though, Devourer managed a 60 damage faceshot on turn 6! However ignoring a well equipped opposing lineup for that ridiculous direct damage proved to not be enough, as WEE pushed back to secure the win on turn 6 by less than 10 points and move on to the finals.

WEE  DEFEAT  Devourer of Speed
-26  to -33

This leaves our finalists LOCKED IN. Our best-of-three finals will be:
Dark Magic -VS- WEE
While our 3rd place best-of-one tiebreak will feature:
BroStat-X -VS- Devourer of Speed

Expect the betting post to go live with the Goods betting report as well as some unique ways to make a metric crapton of betting points!


CHECK THE PLAYOFF BRACKET!

 

 

Match 6: WEE -VS- Devourer of Speed

 

WEE
Pilot - Aaron

-VS-

Devourer of Speed
Pilot - Wes

 

 Devourer of Speed wins the roll and elects to take even initiatives

mulligan

        TURN 1 (Aaron Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE
aaron sets a resource and passes.

Wes sets a resource, and recruits Galan, famished. immediately activating it to gain 2.

    COMBAT PHASE
both players pass.

    RECOVERY PHASE

 
        WEE -> 50   Devourer of Speed ->52

 

        TURN 2 (Wes Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
Wes chains to the draw, playing Kindred Spirits from his hand (fetching Silver Surfer, and Barry Allen, crimson tornado) placing them on the top of his deck.
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE
Wes sets a resource and recruits Silver Surfer forming it behind Galan.

Aaron sets a resource, and recruits Chen, in the visible support row. He then equips it with Capture Net, and passes.

    COMBAT PHASE
Wes activates Galen, gaining 2, then activates Surfer, (Fetching Alias Investigations) and placing it on top of his deck. He then passes.

Aaron flips up Prison Planet and sends Chen into Galen for a 1-sided stun.

Both pas to recovery.

    RECOVERY PHASE
 Wes recovers Galen.

        WEE -> 50   Devourer of Speed ->50

 

        TURN 3 (Aaron Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE
Aaron sets a resource, and recruits Man-eater, protecting Chen before passing.

Wes sets a resource, and recruits XS, forming her protecting Silver Surfer. leaving Galen adjacent in the front row. He activates Silver Surfer (fetching Elemental Converters) placing it on the top of his deck and passing.

    COMBAT PHASE
Aaron sends Man-eater over XS at 7/4. Using chens effect (discarding Fatality) to power-up Man-eater for a one-sided stun he then sends Chen into Silver Surver at 5 ATK for a mutual trade. Aaron passes combat.

Wes activates Galen to gain 2 and passes.

    RECOVERY PHASE
At the start of the recovery phase, Aaron flips up 2 Bounty Hunts.
Aaron recovers Chen.
Wes recovers XS, KOing Surfer. each Bounty hunt gains 1 counter.

        WEE -> 50   Devourer of Speed ->42

 

        TURN 4 (Wes Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE
Wes sets a resource and recruits Barry Allen in the front row along with the rest of his characters, He then flips up Alias Investigations and activates it, calling, plot twist, hitting a flame trap. he then passes.

Aaron sets a resource, and recruits Silver Sable and passes.

    COMBAT PHASE
Wes sends XS into Man-eater. Both players pass and both 3 drops stun. barry then swings into Chen. Aaron activates Chen's capture net spinning XS back to Wes' hand (both bounty hunts gain a counter) and placing an additional counter on a bounty hunt before passing into a mutual stun.
Wes activates Galen to gain 2 and passes.

Aaron sends Silver Sable into Galen. Once legal, he cashes in 2 counters from each bounty hunt to draw a net 4 cards, and passes for an easy stun. Wes flips up Keystone City (revealing Wally west) to reinforce. Silver Sable triggers returning Galen back to Wes' hand and placing a counter on each bounty hunt. Aaron once again removes 2 counters from a bounty hunt to draw 2. he then passes.
Wes flips up Elemental converters, (discarding XS and galen) and then activating the converters to draw a card

    RECOVERY PHASE
Wes recovers barry Allen.
Aaron recovers Man-eater, KOing Chen.
 
        WEE -> 39   Devourer of Speed -> 34

 

        TURN 5 (Aaron Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE
Aaron sets a resource, recruiting Goldface (discarding man-eater and Chen) and recruits the Shark, forming the shark protecting silver sable, and Man-eater protecting Goldface and passes build.

Wes activates Alias, and rallies for a plot twist (revealing Air-walker) wiffing. he then activates elemental converters to draw a card. Finally setting a resource, he recruits Wally west into his front row and passes.

    COMBAT PHASE
Aaron sends The shark into Barry Allen at 5. Barry allen activates his effect, moving to the support row and neither character is stunned.
Aaron continues with Silver Sable swinging into Wally west. Both characters stun and sable's effect triggers returning wally to Wes' hand while dealing 1 breakthrough. Both bounty hunts gain a counter and Aaron cashes in 2 on one of them to draw 2 cards.
next Aaron sends Goldface into barry.
Once legal, Wes activates keystone city revealing the wally to reinforce the attack and Barry stuns.
Lastly, Aaron sends Man-eater direct. Once legal flipping up Stryker's Island and activating it for +3 ATK. leaving Man-Eater at 10 direct.

Both players pass to recovery.

    RECOVERY PHASE
Aaron recovers Silver Sable.
Wes recovers Barry Allen.

        WEE -> 35   Devourer of Speed ->14

 

        TURN 6 (Wes Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE
Wes activates Elemental converters to draw a card, he sets a resource and flips up Carrying the Torch, targetting the 4 cost Barry, granting him the name, XS.
he then recruits Barry Allen, founding Member, forming both Barrys in the front row.
Wes activates Alias Investigations calling out Character (revealing Wally West) and placing it into his hand.
Wes passes his build.

Aaron sets a resource and plays a Mobilize from his hand (discarding Chen) to fetch Major Force. and equips a capture net onto the Shark.
he forms Man-eater, Sable, and the Shark in his support row, and forms Goldface protecting Sable, and Force protecting Shark, then passes.

    COMBAT PHASE
Wes flips and plays Terminal Velicity onto Barry Allen, founding member, then declares an attack direct for 12.
    "Here it comes!"
    "Yep!"
Once legal, wes activates Barry Allen, (discarding wally West) to ready the 6 drop, he then plays Team Tactics, exhausting the Barry/XS to take the direct attacker to 20 ATK. He then follows up with double savage Beatdowns, allowing them both to resolve before playing a second Team tactics, exhausting Barry for itself and a nice round 60 ATK direct. Wes looks at his one remaining card in hand.
   "that's all I can do."
Wes Passes.

Aaron declares the Shark into Barry/XS with 9 atk. Wes reinforces with Keystone City, revealing Wally.
Next, Goldface, declares onto Barry with 11/9, once legal, activating Stryker's Island, he allows it to resolve, then activates Goldface's effect, KOing it for gain +2/+2. he then flips up Empire of tears (KOing both Bounty Hunts) and activates it to grans another +2/+2 onto Goldface, leaving him at 18/13. for a one-sided stun over Barry.
Silver sable swings direct for 9.
Man-eater swings direct for 7
Major Force swings direct, once legal, Aaron flips up Empire of tears, (KOing The Shark and Man-eater., also KOing the other Empire to Uniqueness.
Aaron activates Empire onto Major force for a direct swing of 16.

    RECOVERY PHASE

 

WEE  DEFEATS  Devourer of Speed

-26  to  -33

Postgame Thoughts:

Aaron:
I was feeling good about this one. Between battlestar and fatality, i figured i'd lock down the kill turn just fine. but even with what, 8 bonus draws i just never found them. Luckily getting the cosmic off of Surfer on 3, ended up being all i needed to do to keep pressure and just push back for the win. 60 damage in the face? that's a helluva way to make it close.

Wes:
Goin all in meant i didn't have the ability to Flame trap that extra swinger, but i didn't really see any better optons. I was math-ing out the last turn and i figured if he doesn't have any unexpected surprises i'll win by 3. Then the resource garbage happened with empire and major Force's passive and it was a done deal.

The Goods: Summer of Love - Week 6 - TOP CUT BREAKDOWN

 Up until this point, we've had a double elimination event.
But now that we have a top 8, The safety net has been removed.
That's right. From here on out, all losses are final.
Unfair? Maybe.
Not to worry however!
Every match from here on to the finals will be transposed in a detailed play-by-play for your own reading pleasure.

Let's meet our contenders, let's get to ...

 

Lets review and meet with out top contenders in the order their success this far has placed them!

#1 Ranked Seed: BroStat-X

At this point, if they ever make a movie out of this event, I'm sure BroStat-X is going to be the antagonist.
This thinly veiled TNNB list does everything you'd expect TNNB to do, and a few extra things thanks to the automatic crossover this event allows. granting unprecedented access to resource replacement effects and clutch pumps.

What it needs to do to win:

Every single game it has ripped TNB by turn 3 has been a win. So all things considered, this deck will only ever lose on a wiff of bad draws. If this deck makes it to the finals it's all but a foregone conclusion, since the finals will be a best of 3.
And I mean BAD draws.
Basically Anything short of baby Jesus coming down from the heavens holding hands with Mr. Rogers to hand BroStat-X the worst possible series of mulligans and topdecks over the first 4 turns of the game, while giving his opponent the absolute NUTS.
Because that's what it is going to take for this deck to lose.
Good thing we play VS System.
A game, where every once in a long while, baby Jesus comes to visit. God-draws happen, and even OP decks can lose...
MAYBE.

#2 Ranked Seed: WEE

Taking a TNNB-LIGHT approach, and milking some of the unique strengths of Wild Pack, along with the borderline absurd stat weights of the EE self-harm character roster, WEE seems to be the only other undefeated team in any sort of position to threaten BroStat-X's dominant claim to the throne. Its MVP play is a simple one. Prison Planet and Crippler by turn 2. Allowing an often under-rated slowing of incoming early damage. The Capture Net + Bounty Hunt interaction serves to fuel Goldface's heavy cost of discarding 2 EE characters to recruit, and a Major Force on an off-initiative turn 5 tends to be one of the strongest plays the deck can offer. as it can easily have him defending as a, SURPRISE! 17/15 for some unexpected stunbacks. Similarly on this turn Goldface can hit a rock-solid 15/13.
The only team unilaterally happy with even initiatives, it isn't hard to see why.

What it needs to do to win:

A PERFECT curve. An obvious statement, of course.
However with no search fixing before 3, turn 2 tends to be the weakest link, a link that often benefits from a hidden Chen, or a Fatality. While in almost all situations, Man-Eater is the best 3 drop it can put into play. (an overextending BroStat-X may feel that BattleStar is a tougher 3 to play around if they clump New Nexts though)

#3 Ranked Seed: Foul-Mouthed Dark God

The only list to manage to stop a hardline rush (Gods matter) in its tracks and steal a win, you'd be hard pressed to build a better all-comers list with the draw potential this one offers. The Doom control package is no secret, but always manages to surprise enemy players regardless, with perfect-timing, and initiative breaking exhausts to extend play to those oh-so-valuable late game turns.

What it needs to do to win:

Hit curve, and Sub the Mockeries into play. This is such a crazy good tempo setting play. Drawing cards and preventing stuns on hidden characters, enables some fantastic potency with curve options.
On initiative, the nextwave early drops are almost always better, however once it goes turn 4 or later, we definately want to see some mockeries take their places as we set up some Darkseid/Doom/etc... brick plays. Survival of the fittest into Darkseid, the Omega on turn 6 is a ball-busting 7 drop Magneto in disguise that works beutifully in tandem with Anti-Life, and the Dark God win condition, which it has already managed to land, once in this event!

#4 Ranked Seed: Dark Magic

As the lowest ranked undefeated team, this deck can be summarized as simply, hard to kill. Willing to spend nigh-RIDICULOUS Endurance amounts to fuel some of the coolest outplays we've seen in this event so far, it doesn't seem to have any true answers for the other top teams, aside from perhaps a clutch Conclave or KO ability.

What it needs to do to win:

For 99% of its matchups? Easy. NEVER. WIFF. ILSA. Beyond that, it needs an early Anarchy in any matchup vs WEE or BroStat-X almost without exception. Also, in any rush matchup, a little bit of some baby Jesus lucksack won't hurt it any.

#5 Ranked Seed: Gods Matter

Considered to be the number 2 seed at the start of this event, the shocking upset loss recieved at the hands of Darkseid proved that this events results are not set in stone.
This particular list uses repeat swings from Slipstream to deliver some pretty amazing endurance swings on turn 3, and in a perfect world, closes its games out on 4 with some decent access to burn and initiative-willing, another double-swing.

What it needs to do to win:

Chomin by turn 2, and at least 3 pumps, and of course, slipstream on turn 3.
That's literally all it needs to win most games it plays. Will this recipe prove true in the top 8?

 

 

#6 Ranked Seed: Devourer of Speed

Taking a page from the Thunderbolt playbook, Devourer of Speed seeks to consistently set up the required pieces for an over-statted direct swing to push the game out of reach. Due to the consistency of the search engine, it affords some substantial silver bullet splashes like Flame trap, and I Must Obey to help it sneak past the kill turns of rush builds.

What it needs to do to win:

Silver Surfer with an equipped Board by 3. If it can do that, it will guarantee an infinite mass punch, substantial bonus draw, and a perfect curve. Not bad for an aggressive mulligan.

#7 Ranked Seed: The MorMans are Coming!

Extremely efficient rush. a remarkable ability to sustain. A solid and consistent burn.
This deck has answers to almost everything. Almost.

What it needs to do to win:

Early evaders to set up the midgame are the most important tools this list can use to setup its support pieces. And an early Alley. The earlier the better. get that and it holds a shot to win almost any game. Almost.

#8 Ranked Seed: IMMORTALS

A fan favorite using a leader focus to ensure, well... immortality of it's curve thanks to Code White and Dr. Sivana. Used in conjunction with other potent Leaders Like Gorilla Grodd at 6 and a great draw package with Dark Beast and Survival of the fittest, and this deck looks to out-sustain, out brick and later-on, out damage all that it faces.

What it needs to do to win:

Since the curve tends to stay around for such a long time, IMMORTALS' best success is when they dont miss a drop. Honestly, not a hard ask considering the 8 searchers the deck mains. Best successes all land a location to recur by 2. VS rush, the obvious code whites will be needed in FULL as it has no other real method to deal with early damage.

Now you've met the players, let's cover our top 8 match-up breakdowns!

 

...B*tches. There. sounds official now.

CHECK OUT THE NEW TOP CUT BRACKET!

 

Match 1: BroStat-X  -VS-  IMMORTALS

IMMORTALS have a dog in this race, and then some. It's a shame that they face BroStat-X. Against most other contenders they might have had a real shot. Unfortunately, IMMORTALS will be looking for that baby Jesus divine intervention sort-of love, and in a big way too. I'll put it plainly.
IMMORTALS cannot win. What they NEED is for BroStat-X to LOSE
Favored to win: BroStat-X by 15.5 endurance

Match 2: Dark Magic  -VS-  Gods Matter

At first glance, Gods Matter looks like just about every other game they've featured in as a runaway favorite, however we've seen what an effective brick can do in GM's only loss. What's more, A conclaved say... Thunderous Onslaught could literally HALF the damage output for the turn. While a total Anarchy on top of that could literally steal a win here in a BIG way. While I don't want to outright call for the upset, I'll just say...
Watch for the upset.
Favored to win: Gods Matter by 8.5 endurance

 

Match 3: WEE  -VS-  The MorMans are Coming!

Mormans have serious game and some hugely statted combat swings... and Combat phase board security. WEE has serious game and hugely statted combat swings... AND out of combat board control options. This one sits on a razor's edge folks, and something is about to give. This one is WAY too close to call.
Favored to win: NO LINE (Just pick a winner)

 

Match 4: Foul-Mouthed Dark God  -VS-  Devourer of Speed

The Devourer of speed has faced down a doom firing on all cylinders and delivered it with a loss. It seems hard to imagine a Darkseid playing at doom tricks can avoid the big hit with LESS field manipulating tricks. However If Dark God can use Darkseid, the omega to swap a Survival of the fittest before some solid key stuns... the game could pretty much end right there. The edge, however will go to Devourers consistency.
Favored to win: Devourer of Speed by 30.5 endurance

HIT UP THE OFFICIAL TOP 8 BETTING THREAD!

The Goods: Summer of Love - Week 5 - Losers bracket

Every. Game. Matters.
Not just for staying in the game, but this week will mark the cutoff for our top 8!
Winners this week officially "Make the Cut"

Find out what you need to make the best use of your picks, and more, in this weeks...

This week determines our top 8 decks! Who stays? Who falls?
Here's my take:

LOSER'S BRACKET: WEEK 5

Match 49- Gamma Robuts -VS- Devourer of Speed
Devourer is all about that massive, MASSIVE swing, and consistently setting it up. But a camped Mystical Paralysis, can put the Speedsters into a funk that may not be feasable to escape from. Add onto that an easy removal of Silver Surfer via Reign and this one could look extremely favorable to Doom and his robo pals.
Devourer of speed, however, has resilience, and a fetchable readying card playable on top of an innate ready from barry. This means it is entirely possible to take a Mystical Paralysis in the face, and do the infinite mass punch ANYWAY. With both teams looking at consistent access to outplay the other, this one is just too close to call.
Favored to Win: NO LINE (Just pick your winner!)


Match 50- Unjust Fear -VS- The MorMans are Coming!
Unjust fear, comes off of a heart-breaker from week 4, ready to stun ALL the things.
However, MorMans literally stun themselves like it's their JOB. with decent free damage access and some clutch answer cards to boot. Can their evasion tactics push their attackers past the Dr. Light defense? Will Unjust Fear, finally unleash the mythical turn 9 Boosted Dr. Light overkill? A support card will dictate this one. And while I don't know which one, or for who, MorMans has a lot MORE of them.
Favored to win: MorMans are Coming! by 9.5


Match 51- Gods Matter -VS- Intergalactic Carpool
When the Carpool presses out, it is a sight to behold. For this one to go their way, they need big bodies as early as they can get them. A thing equipped with a universal weapon is a powerhouse play in its own right, but will take time to set up.
Gods Matter, lost a close one to a list they by all rights had beaten on turn 3 last week. Only to find them grab a foothold and build a massive defense on it. (On the back of some pretty crazy bad draws) Their opponent this week has none of that tanky resilient access. the goal here is simple: DO NOT LET KREE GET TO TURN 5.
And Gods Matter is readily equipped to do so.
Favored to win: Gods Matter by 13.5


Match 52- Crapple Jacks -VS- IMMORTALS
I've been told that I've been too hard on Crapple Jacks. And while, yes it is SUPER DUPER fun to razz on Scott Hamilton's creation, the fact is, that it consistently has found a way to work... oddly. And one win away from a top 8, can't be just luck.
Fun fact: in no game, not one, has the Crapple Jacks combo of Jackal spamming out 3 drops actually WORKED as designed. We've seen fisk towers spitting out 1 drops to out-tempo. We've seen a 5 drop deadpool steal a win in a close game. So it isn't that the list can't perform. It just FEELS like an insanity list, and is therefore extremely hard to quantify.
But I'll try:
Crapple Jacks is a multi-faceted all-comers list with some unique interactions and some very potent natural answers to power curve play. They MUST hit Deadpool to deal with IMMORTALS, and if they do, that's a hard question demanding a solid answer.
IMMORTALS, have been a big pile of not giving a *%$& what the opponent is doing and powering through one of the more potent endgame lists in the tournament. I expect to see Charaxes and Havok do some serious work in this one, A solid KO from Unnatural Selection could sway the game entirely. Lots of room for an outplay here, for IMMORTALS, but not enough to call this a sure thing.
Favored to Win: IMMORTALS by 12.5

WHY YOU FIGHT!

Top finishers will receive the long-awaited Eugenio variant super skrull! A special Shout-out to CategoryOneGames for also distributing a promo super skrull with every VS Order during the summer of Love 2 event! HYPE! So get cards! NOW! GO!

The top better in our betting pool will land themselves a custom banner in the VS System Collective!

The Postgame Report: Week 4

It turns out even Gods can bleed!

A game loss from a single evade!

A Doop power-up decides the game?
All this AND MORE, in this week's...

As we near ever closer to the top 8, we once again salute those that came before...
we salute the fallen. And probably next week we salute Crapple Jacks... Probably.
RIP amirite?

lets get to the reports!
(spread winners marked by an *)

LOSERS BRACKET:

Match 41- Intergalactic Carpool   -VS-  The Cliffs of INSANITY

Even with a locked down row, CoA (Cliffs of INSANITY) managed to keep up the pressure. it wasn't until a defensive turn 6 facing a perfect press chain into a Mr. Fantastic, father of invention emptying the resource row of 4 equips that the game was put to bed. CoA beats the spread, but ultimately faces the final curtain call in its insane showcase

Intergalactic Carpool  ELIMINATE  The Cliffs of INSANITY*

7  to  -5

Match 42- IMMORTALS  -VS-  HellKnights

Considering their heavy handed loss placing them in the loser's bracket, IMMORTALS have been keeping with their namesake, and just out pressuring other solid builds with their unique tools.
This proved to be no different. Early Fate set on 3? transfer to hellboy on 4? Unnatural selection. While the immortals did not surrender a single character played, except to fuel a grodd steal of Barbara Gordon on 6. Before riding 2 path of destruction pumps to end it. HellKnight fans, be consoled that your team fought to the end, and managed to hang on tightly enough to beat the spread by half a point.

IMMORTALS  ELIMINATE  HellKnights*

10  to  -6

Match 43- The Swingers' Club  -VS-  Devourer of Speed

Devourer got evens and an early Galen to seriously mitigate the early swing potential of the Club. when 6 finally rolled around, however, Devourer still hadn't managed to draw into a Terminal Velocity. Thing is, Thanks to Morg, the Club doesn't exactly spam visible defenders, so the direct swing happened on the back of  the 6 drop barry with a power-up and double beatdown before readying and team tactics for a smooth 46 direct. Swingers manage to beat the spread with some imaginative, if not spiteful return swings.

*The Swingers' Club  ELIMINATED BY  Devourer of Speed

-26  to  -9

Match 44- Tam'Ar Empire  -VS-  The MorMans are Coming!

Tam'Ar dug in early and surfed an easy stall through the early and mid game, while MorMans were content to ride a lifegain engine to stay topped up when the unthinkable happened. as a throw-away chain to a mobilize that was intended to fetch Koriand'r, Manhunter Clone MILLS HER. Then tar Baby RFP's it! So Even though the match went to 7, Without the fiery princess, the MorMan onslaught knocked in the Empire's doors and showed them old time religion, down to the exact endurance total needed to progress. Make no mistake though, that lucksack Manhunter Clone mill stole the game.

Tam'Ar Empire  ELIMINATED BY  The MorMans are Coming!*

0  to  43

WINNERS BRACKET

Match 45- Gamma Robuts  -VS-  BroStat-X

So this is an odd tale where I tell you that Gamma Robuts wiffed turns 1-3 with zero recruits.
However, this is also a tale where i tell you BroStat-X only hit 1 TNB by turn 3. And a crazy clutch defensive 4 from doom negated their entire initiative. Add in Political pressure and things were suddenly turning. but could they bring it back from the brink?
Passing their initiative with a massive board and only leaving a hidden Doop and an Anne Marie Cortez for a swingback, it was the Doop power-up that sealed the game in a team swing into Bastion.
Death by Doop. Robuts relegate to the losers bracket. perhaps we shall see them again. Pickers looking for sure things won't like this result at all. Gamma Robuts beat the spread and almost steal a win.

*Gamma Robuts  DEFEATED BY  BroStat-X

-7  to  -6

Match 46- Dark Magic -VS- Unjust Fear

I can't break down this game without giving the final turns as a fully summarized play-by-play.

So the game is close, it is turn 5, both teams are sitting on their low to mid 40's for endurance and Dark Magic has initiative. Paying 3 to alt recruit the 1 cost nightmaster, Dark Magic uses new and Improved to KO it. Then they play a second alt recruited Nightmaster. it enters with 2 counters but is short lived, as again, it is KO'd to new and Improved. Now it gets a wierd. Dark Magic ALT recruits 5 drop Nightmaster by paying 20, it enters play at 13/13, but not done yet, Dark Magic KO's Blue devil 2 drop, gaining 6 endurance, then spends 5 resources to recruit Blue Devil 5 entering at 12/12, and losing 4 endurance.
Unjust fear, played a Lex.

Then Dark Magic flipped Anarchy.

And anarchy it WAS.
Dr. Sivana KOs.
Shimmer KOs.
Poison Ivy KOs.
then Grigory Rasputin spends 5, and sure enough, Lex dies too.
So even though Dark Magic went from low forties in endurance to just 11, unjust Fear, went from equally high endurance, to just 14. and lost 12 resources worth of characters in play. with nothing but 5 infernal minions in play

Follow up to turn 6:
With only 5 characters in play, rather than the usual 8 or so, Dr Light is recruited for the 6th, but won't be stunning a defensive 6 as he can only take down 5 or less. And a 6 is indeed played, as June Moon enters play. Unjust Fear Settles for the over-statted Nightmaster, as a stun target and Nightmaster goes down.
A Sleeper Cells follows up attempting to ready Dr. Light, but was promptly Conclaved. Now below 10 endurance, June Moon activates to stun Dr. Light, who in turn, responds with press the attack. the chain resolves and Dr. Light readies, then activates to stun Blue devil before going down for the stun himself from June Moon.
Some power-ups allow the remaining 2 infernal minions another trade with Dark Magic's Ilsa before passing with a score of -6 to 7 in Unjust Fear's favor. and only a Grigori left for Dark Magic that can swing.
Grigori does so.
For a moment teh Dark Magic player considers the handshake.
"Oh almost forgot"
only one move left.
Activate new and Improved on the stunned Blue devil to KO it.
Blue Devil triggered effect resolves... GAIN 8.
Dark Magic wins.

*Dark Magic  DEFEATS  Unjust Fear

2  to  0

Match 47- Gods Matter -VS- Foul-Mouthed Dark God

Gods did what they do and swung like maniacs on turn 3. however an awkward clump prevented any meaningful play on 4, (nothing but slipstreams) then again on 5 as they pushed for a team swing at 16 hoping to take Dark God to -1. but the god had the brick to ensure a swingback for game.

Gods Matter  DEFEATED BY  Foul-Mouthed Dark God*

-7  to  3

Match 48- Crapple Jacks -VS- WEE

No double points awarded this week!

WEE lived up to its name and just ran away with a monstrous turn 6, Man Eaters ac cess to the hidden area proved too detrimental for any relevant set-up, resulting in WEE removing that nice shiny "undefeated" tag from Crapple Jacks. Sorry, not sorry Scott... WEE more than triples their allocated spread. But we will see Crapple Jacks again in the losers bracket, perhaps they aren't quite done yet. Is it possible they survive the next round and land a top 8 berth?
Stay tuned folks.

Crapple Jacks  DEFEATED BY   WEE*

-32  to  15

SEE THE BRACKET HERE

Stay tuned for the betting thread for next week!! We will be playing our losers bracket to establish our top 8 next week!