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!

It's an Ankit world, we just live in it.

 
In the end it was Ankit's Moloids/Doom that went the distance, putting down the undefeated Cap/Red Skull deck in a smooth 2-0.

With the dual legend event done and dusted, a winner crowned, and a spiffy new group banner applied, it's time to look forward.

-The Crisis Block Format online tournament will begin May 8th. this means I need all participating deck submissions in by May 7th!

Legal sets are:

MAV, DJL, MXM, DCR, MHG, and DLS

this event also uncludes these promo sets

MAA, MUL, MEQ, MEX, DEX

as well as these starters:

MFF (fantastic four) and MXS (x-men starter#2)

 

So gear up and get testing! this event promises to be WIDE OPEN and has long been considered to be one of the more balanced blocks!

AFTER the Crisis Block event concludes, we will be playing an Insanity, NO BANLIST format!

You read that correctly.
A NO BANLIST INSANITY FORMAT

Lots of fun stuff that can happen there so start your prep if interested, watch for the formal announcement and prove to everyone that these cards deserve to stay on the banned list!

Lots of fun content as we go forward!

I hope to see you all there!

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 Goods: FINALS WEEK

Too exited? Relax with a haiku.

 Searching for glory
Two teams, only one can win
This week, on the Goods

This is it! After 8 weeks of beat downs, shocking upsets and a massive pile of KO's, we have hit the Climax of the summer of Love 2's nostalgic stroll down memory lane.
Finally we bid answers to the question plaguing our times.
"What randomly paired team has the strongest love?"
With two entirely unlikely candidates poised for one, final contest,
we serve up our contenders, one final time.

 

WEE
Wild Pack + Emerald Enemies

This oddball mashup, at first glance seemed like a cheesy wannabe TNB, but the massive size of its mid-game characters and solid recursion tactics made for some pretty convincing wins. Entering the finals as the favorites, WEE seeks to prove that Marvel and DC CAN, in fact, play nice in a random pairing.
In their attempt to take home the gold, expect to see a big focus on Silver Sable if possible over Goldface to ensure some board control. Especially if they can mitigate the potency of Grigori on 4.

Dark Magic
Shadowpact + Thule Society

Giant-Slayers. God Killers. Lucky?
Their unprecedented and completely unexpected run to the finals included the dispatching of BOTH, BroStat-X AND Gods Matter, the predicted finals contenders at the start of the event. So it feels like a bit of a stretch to call it a "lucky" run. But does the perpetual underdog team have enough left in the tank to close out the completely unexpected Cinderella run?

CHECK OUT THE BRACKET

 

 

FINALS Best of Three: Ultimate Fear VS ...and the Horse you rode in on

THE SPRINGTIME SMACKDOWN FINAL!

Ultimate Fear
- Aaron
VS
...and the Horse you rode in on
- JS


****GAME 1****


JS wins the flip and elects to take Odds.

Aaron Mulligans. JS keeps.

        TURN 1 (JS Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

JS sets a resource, and recruits Hope.

Aaron sets a resource and recruits Wasp in the hidden area activating her to burn JS for 3 (removing Blade, Press the attack, Shimmer, Thor and Wasp)

    COMBAT PHASE

JS attacks directly with Hope for 2.

    RECOVERY PHASE

    Ultimate Fear -> 48    ...and the Horse you rode in on -> 47



        TURN 2 (Aaron Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Aaron sets a resource and recruits Shimmer in the front row.

JS sets a resource and recruits Terra-Man. He then recruits Mr. Mxy (now costing 0) forming them all in the front row.

    COMBAT PHASE

Aaron flips up Forbidden Loyalties, teaming up S.H.I.E.L.D. and Fearsome Five, discarding Quicksilver to place a +1/+1 counter on Shimmer. he then activates her effect forcing JS to exhaust Mxy and Hope. he follows up with Wasp, (removing Bullseye, Triskelion, Entangle, Lady Deathstrike and Wasp) to burn JS for 3.

JS Flips up Battle for Metropilis and atttacks Shimmer with Terra-Man for a mutual stun.

    RECOVERY PHASE

Aaron recovers Shimmer.
JS recovers Terra-Man.

    Ultimate Fear -> 42    ...and the Horse you rode in on -> 45



        TURN 3 (JS Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

JS sets a resource and recruits Black Bolt in the hidden front row, flipping up Act of Defiance to team-up Skrull and Revenge Squad befiore flipping up a second Act to team-up Skrull and S.H.I.E.L.D.

Aaron sets a resource and recruits Dr. Sivana protected by Shimmer and passes.

    COMBAT PHASE

Js declares Terra-Man into Dr. Sivana. Aaron responds, flipping up Triskelion and playing Entangled from his hand exhausting Dr Sivana (Discarding Shimmer) to exhaust Terra-Man. Aaron then activates Wasp, burning JS for 3 (removing Sleeper Cell, iron Man, Liberation Day, Clint Barton, and Forbidden Loyalties)
JS sends Hope into Shimmer, Aaron responds, playing Cover fire from the row, allowing shimmer to avoid the stun and stunback Hope. Not wanting to sacrifice any characters, JS passes.

Aaron sends Shimmer into Mxy triggering his effect to return him to JS' hand then passes combat.

    RECOVERY PHASE

JS recovers Hope.

    Ultimate Fear -> 45    ...and the Horse you rode in on -> 41



        TURN 4 (Aaron Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Aaron sets a resource and recruits Iron man, forming Dr. Sivana adjacent in the support row and protected by Shimmer.

JS sets and flips executive privelege, activating its effect (Discarding Warskrull) to reveal Professor Emil Hamilton and Captain America, and placing captain america into his hand and Emil on the bottom of his deck. He recruits Maxima in the front row and free-recruits Mxy protected by Maxima.

    COMBAT PHASE

Iron man declares an attack on Mxy forcing it back into JS' hand causing a reset, readying Iron Man. Aaron then activates Shimmer to exhaust all 4 of JS' characters. He then swings Dr. Sivana into Hope for an easy stun before sending Iron Man into Maxima for a mutual stun before activating triskelion (removing Dr. Sivana from play) to retrieve Clint Barton and place it into his hand and immediately using it's effect (exhausting Wasp) to remove Maxima from the game.

JS passes Combat

    RECOVERY PHASE

Aaron recovers Iron Man.
JS recovers Hope.

    Ultimate Fear -> 41    ...and the Horse you rode in on -> 33



        TURN 5 (JS Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE

Aaron chains Triskelion to the draw, (removing 0 cards) to place Bullseye, lester into his hand.
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

JS sets a resource and recruits Lex Luthor, metropolis Mogul. Aaron chains to the recruit activating Wasp to burn JS for three (Removing Triskelion, Press the attack, The Underworld, Quicksilver, and Shimmer) then JS recruits Mxy in the front row and activates Executive Provelege (discarding Emil to reveal Mob Mentality and Super Skrull, placing them both into his hand before passing his build.

Aaron sets a resource and recruits Nick Fury (see: SHAFT) Protecting Dr. Sivana and recruits Bullseye in the hidden area protecting Wasp.

    COMBAT PHASE

JS sends Terra-Man into Iron Man for a mutual stun. Aaron reinforces with Dr. Sivana. Lex attacks Nick Fury for an uncontested stun. Mxy swings into Shimmer for a stunn then Black Bolt swings for a mutual stun into Dr Sivana. JS then plays Death of Superman from the row to KO Iron Man.

    RECOVERY PHASE

JS recovers Terra-Man, KOing Black Bolt.
Aaron recovers Nick Fury, Koing Shimmer and Dr. Sivana.

    Ultimate Fear -> 21    ...and the Horse you rode in on -> 27



        TURN 6 (Aaron Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE

Aaron Chains Triskelion (removing 0) to place The Underworld Star into his hand.
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Aaron sets a resource and flips Underworld Star (discarding Bullseye) To search for Dr. Light, recruiting him protected by Nick Fury.

Js sets a resource and recruits Super Skrull forming Skrull protecting Lex and Terra-Man protecting Mr/ Mxy with hope in the unprotected front row. he then activates Executive Privelege (discarding Terra-Man) revealing Mob mentality and Brainiac placing them both into JS' hand.

    COMBAT PHASE

Aaron thinks for some time before sending Dr. Light into Terra-Man. Mt Mxy reinforces. Then Nick Fury attacks Hope for an easy stun. JS uses Hope's effect, KOing her to flip down Death of Superman. Unable to deal with the Super Skrull, Aaron Passes combat.

Without hesitation, JS sends Super Skrull into Dr. Light. Once legal, Aaron plays Cover Fire from his hand for +6 DEF. JS responds with Mob Mentality played from his hand. Knowing the KO is on it's way, Aaron flips up a second Triskelion (KOing the first to uniqueness, and activates it (removing 0 cards) to grab cover fire and play it again. JS concedes the stun and passes combat, (taking 0 stun from Skrull's cosmic effect)

    RECOVERY PHASE

JS recovers Super Skrull, KOing Terra-Man.

    Ultimate Fear -> 21    ...and the Horse you rode in on -> 20



        TURN 7 (JS Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE

(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Before setting his resource, JS activates Executive Privelege, (discarding Maxima) revealing Paibok and Lex Luthor, placing Lex into his hand and Paibok on the bottom of his deck. He then sets and flips Blinding Light and recruits Captain America and maxima, forming everyone into the front row.

Aaron sets a resource and flips up The Underworld Star, (discarding Psimon) to search for Iron Man, recruiting him in the support row protected by Dr. Light.

    COMBAT PHASE

JS sends Captain America into Nick Fury. Aaron reinforces with Iron Man. Then Maxima swings into Iron Man for an uncontested stun thanks to Captain America. Super skrull declares into doc light but Aaron activates The Triskelion (removing 0 cards) to place Sleeper Cells into his hand. he plays it immediately, exhausting wasp, bullseye and Dr. Light to exhaust Super Skrull before his attack is legal. Undaunted, JS sends Lex into Dr. Light bolstered with Mob mentality for another uncontested stun before  exhausting Mxy to Death of Superman to KO Dr. Light.

Game 1 ends with an upset!
HORSE WINS!

    RECOVERY PHASE

    Ultimate Fear -> -2    ...and the Horse you rode in on -> 20


        POSTGAME THOUGHTS

Aaron Thoughts:
That Lex!

JS Thoughts:
I wasn't sure i could keep lex in play but his draws seemed lackluster so it worked out well.




GAME 2

As the loser of match 1, Aaron selects Odds for his initiative

Both players keep.


        TURN 1 (Aaron Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Aaron sets a resource and passes.

JS sets a resource and also passes.

    COMBAT PHASE

Aaron stares blankly into the abyss. JS stares back. Entertained, Chthulhu slow claps.

    RECOVERY PHASE

    Ultimate Fear -> 50    ...and the Horse you rode in on -> 50



        TURN 2 (JS Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

JS thinks for a moment and reluctantly recruits Atomic Skull after setting his resource.

Aaron sets a resource and recruits Wasp. Activating her to burn for 3 (Removing The Underworld Star, Iron Man, Triskelion, Dr. Sivana and Sleeper Cells)

    COMBAT PHASE

Atomic Skull swings direct for 2.

    RECOVERY PHASE

    Ultimate Fear -> 48    ...and the Horse you rode in on -> 47



        TURN 3 (Aaron Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Aaron sets a resource, flips up Triskelion, and recruits Dr. Sivana in the support row before flipping up Forbidden Loyalties to team-up S.H.I.E.L.D. and Fearsome Five. Opting to discard an Entangled to place a +1/+1 counter on Dr. Sivana.

JS Sets a resource and flips to reveal warskrull. KOing it to place an Act of Defiance into his row before recruiting Wolverine, skruknucklehead protecting Atomic Skull. He flips up an act of Defiance to team-up Skrull and Revenge Squad.

    COMBAT PHASE

Dr. Sivana swings into wolverine for the stun. JS reinforces with A-Skull. Wasp follows up and trades stuns with Atomic Skull.

    RECOVERY PHASE

Aaron recovers Wasp.
JS recovers Atomic Skull, KOing Wolverine.

    Ultimate Fear -> 47    ...and the Horse you rode in on -> 42



        TURN 4 (JS Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

JS sets and flips executive privelege, using its effect (Discarding Emil Hamilton) revealing Captain America and a Mob Mentality placing them both into his hand. He sighs and recruits Ruin from his hand, forming him in front of Atomic Skull.

Happy to not see Maxima, Aaron sets a resource and recruits Iron Man, forming him behind Sivana.


    COMBAT PHASE

JS flips up his remaining 2 face down cards Both Acts of Defiance! he teams up skrull with S.H.I.E.L.D. and then teams up Skrull with Fearsome Five. And sends Ruin into Iron Man. Before the attack is legal, Aaron responds playing Liberation Day from his row, (Removing Quicksilver from play) he then chains The Underworld Star playing it from the row (Discarding Lady Deathstrike) he then Chains Wasp, (removing The underworld Star, Sleeper Cells, Clint Barton, Shimmer and Press the attack)and Then chains The Triskelion, activating it (Removing Cover Fire and Bullseye from play)

Triskelion resolves first, placing Entangle into Aaron's hand, Wasp then burns JS for 3, Underworld Star resolves, placing Dr. Light into Aaron's Hand and finaly, Liberation Day, grabs Thor and places it into his hand.

Aaron finally plays Entangle, exhausting Ruin (discarding Thor) preventing the attack from becoming legal.

js then reveals lex in his hand to Atomic Skull's effect to Stun Wasp and passes combat.

Aaron Sends Dr. Sivana into Ruin for an easy stun. Ruin's effect KO's Executive Privelege to place and flip a battle for Metropolis.

    RECOVERY PHASE

JS Recovers Ruin.
Aaron recovers Wasp.

    Ultimate Fear -> 46    ...and the Horse you rode in on -> 35



        TURN 5 (Aaron Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE

Aaron chains Triskelion to the draw (removing Dr. Light) to place Bullseye into his hand.
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Aaron sets a resource and recruits Blade protecting Wasp and Bullseye in his support row next to Wasp.

JS sets reveals and KO's Warskrull to place his 4th and Final Act of Defiance in his resource row, flipping it to team up skrull with the Avengers. And recruits The ever-so-dominating Lex Luthor. Aaron chains to the recruit Bullseye's effect. Stunning Atomic Skull. JS forms Lex behind Ruin.

    COMBAT PHASE

Not wanting to mess around, Aaron sends Iron Man into Emil. Lex Reinforces and Ruin Stuns, triggering his effect, KOing the avengers team-up for a second Battle for Metropolis. Continuing to play it safe, he swings Dr. Sivana, Blade, and Wasp into Lex. Lex stuns back Blade in the mutual stun.

    RECOVERY PHASE

Aaron recovers Blade.
JS recovers Lex, KOing Ruin and Atomic Skull.

    Ultimate Fear -> 43    ...and the Horse you rode in on -> 25



        TURN 6 (JS Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE

Aaron chains triskelion to the draw (removing 0 cards) to place Dr. Light into his hand.
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

JS sets and flips Executive Privelege, using its effect (Discarding Captain America) to reveal Metallo and Executive Privilege placing them both into JS' hand. he then recruits Captain America, Warskrull and Hope, forming everyone into the front row.

Aaron sets a resource and recruits Dr. Light protecting Iron man. Hope then attacks Dr. Sivana for a stun.

    COMBAT PHASE

JS sends lex Luthor into Dr. Light, stunning Dr. Light (triggering iron man's effect) then sending cap into Iron Man (at 10 ATK) Aaron reinforces with Sivana and Iron Man stuns. War Skrull then attacks direct with three Mob mentality's for 14 before JS passes.

Aaron passes combat.

    RECOVERY PHASE

Dr. Light auto-recovers
Aaron recovers Iron Man, KOing Dr. Sivana.

    Ultimate Fear -> 15    ...and the Horse you rode in on -> 25



        TURN 7 (Aaron Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Aaron sets a resource and recruits Psimon adjacent to Iron Man.

JS sets a resource and  uses Executive Privilege's effect (discarding Warskrull) revealing Mobilize and Brainiac 13, placing Brainiac into his hand and sending mobilize tot he bottom of his deck. he forms Cap and Lex in the support row, protected by warskrull and Hope respectively. He then passes, unable to recruit or play anything due to Psimon's effect.

    COMBAT PHASE

Aaron sends Iron Man into Hope for an easy stun. JS reinforces with Lex. Psimon then swings into Lex. Cap reinforces. Then Aaron activates Bullseye to stun warskrull before Dr. Light swings over Cap.
To follow up Blade swings direct for 5 and Wasp activates to burn for 3, ending the game.

    RECOVERY PHASE

    Ultimate Fear -> 15    ...and the Horse you rode in on -> -2



        POSTGAME THOUGHTS

JS Thoughts:
Psymon destroyed me so hard, i almost scooped right there. Well played.

Aaron Thoughts:
Seems we both want odds in these games. next game will be rough.






GAME 3

Since JS lost last round he selects Odd initiatives.

JS keeps. Aaron Mulligans.



        TURN 1 (JS Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

JS sets a resource and passes.

Aaron sets a resource and passes.

    COMBAT PHASE

Both players wonder just how much wood a woodchuck CAN chuck.

    RECOVERY PHASE

    Ultimate Fear -> 50    ...and the Horse you rode in on -> 50



        TURN 2 (Aaron Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Aaron sets a resource and recruits Quicksilver.

JS sets a resource and recruits Brainiac 13 in the hidden area front row and flips up Battle for Metropolis.

    COMBAT PHASE

Aaron attacks direct with Quicksilver for 2.

JS attacks and stuns Quicksilver with Brainiac triggering quicksilver going rfp until next turn.

    RECOVERY PHASE

    Ultimate Fear -> 47    ...and the Horse you rode in on -> 48



        TURN 3 (JS Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

JS recruits Wolverine and free-recruits Mxy (since wolverine has all affiliations) forming them all in the front row.

Aaron sets a resource and Quicksilver returns to play in the front row. Aaron then flips up Triskelion and recruits Dr. Sivana, flipping up Forbidden Loyalties (discarding Dr. Sivana) to team-up S.H.I.E.L.D. and Fearsome Five, placing a +1/+1 counter on Dr. Sivana.

    COMBAT PHASE

JS sends Mxy into Quicksilver stunning and removing it from play before sending Wolverine into Dr. Sivana for a mutual stun before sending Brainiac direct for 3.

    RECOVERY PHASE

JS recovers Wolverine.
Aaron recovers Dr. Sivana.

    Ultimate Fear -> 39    ...and the Horse you rode in on -> 45



        TURN 4 (Aaron Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Aaron sets a resource and recruits Iron man protected by Sivana while Quicksilver returns into play in the front row.

Js sets a resource and recruits Terra-Man before flipping up Blinding Light

    COMBAT PHASE

Aaron sends Dr. Sivana into Wolverine for a mutual stun, triggering iron man's recovery effect. Iron Man attacks Terra-Man for an easy stun. Quicksilver swings into Mxy to return it to JS' hand before exhausting for Clint Barton's cost, removing Terra-Man from play.

JS swings brainiac into Quicksilver for an easy stun removing him from play until Aaron's next build.

    RECOVERY PHASE

Dr. Sivana auto-recovers and gains a +1/+1 counter.
JS recovers Wolverine.

    Ultimate Fear -> 33    ...and the Horse you rode in on -> 37



        TURN 5 (JS Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

JS sets a resource and flips Battle for Metropolis, then recruits Lex Luthor in the front row beside Wolverine. before playing Mxy up front for free.

Aaron sets a resource and plays Blade in the hidden front row before recruiting Wasp behind him.

    COMBAT PHASE

JS sends brainiac and Mxy into Dr. Sivana. sivana stuns back Brainiac in a mutual stun triggering Iron Man's effect. Wolverine then swings into Quicksilver stunning it while iron Man reinforces. (removing quicksilver from play again) Lex then swings over Iron Man with a Mob mentality played from the row for decent breakthrough on the one-sided stun

Aaron sends Blade into Wolverine for a mutual stun and passes.

    RECOVERY PHASE

Dr. Sivana auto-recovers and gains a +1/+1 counter.

JS recovers Brainiac, KOing Wolverine.
Aaron recovers Iron Man, KOing Blade

    Ultimate Fear -> 14    ...and the Horse you rode in on -> 31



        TURN 6 (Aaron Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Aaron sets a resource and recruits Dr. Light and recruits Life Model Decoy boosting for 0. Quicksilver returns to play. Aaron forms life model protecting Iron Man and Quicksilver protecting Dr. Light while Sivana sits unprotected adjacent to iron Man.

JS sets a resource, revealing Warskrull, KOing it for an Act of Defiance finally teaming-up Skrull and Revenge Squad before recruiting Paibok and Black Bolt. forming his hidden characters in the front row and protecting lex with Paibok while Mxy sits adjacent in the support row.

    COMBAT PHASE

Aaron sends Sivana and Quicksilver into Paibok for a mutual stun with Paiboc stunning Sivana, triggering Iron Man's effect. Dr Light then swings into Mxy returning Mxy to JS' hand before sending him into  Lex. Once legal, JS plays Death of Superman from his hand exhausting Lex to KO Dr. Sivana before settling for a one-sided stun. Wasp then activates to burn JS for 3 (Removing Nick Fury, Cover Fire, Press the attack, Shimmer and Wasp) Aaron then plays Clint Barton's effect from his hand, exhausting Life Model Decoy to remove Lex from the game. Afterwards, he activates Triskelion (removing 0 cards) to grab Clint Barton, playing it from his hand exhausting Iron man, to remove Paibok from the game before finally passing his combat phase.

JS sends Black Bolt into Life Model Decoy for 4 endurance loss (trigering Iron Man's effect) before sending brainiac into Quicksilver for 4 more damage.

    RECOVERY PHASE

Life Model Decoy auto-recovers, gaining a +1/+1 counter

    Ultimate Fear -> 3    ...and the Horse you rode in on -> 20



        TURN 7 (JS Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

JS sets a resource and flips up executive privilege (discarding captain america) to reveal Blinding Light and Ruin placing them both into JS' hand. He then recruits Mxy for free, followed up with Captain America and Maxima forming everyone in the front row.

Aaron sets a resource, Quicksilver re-enters play in the frobnt row protecting Dr. Light. he activates Wasp, burning JS for 3 (removing Entangle, Bullseye, Clint Barton, The Underworld Star and Shimmer) Dr Light activates, stunning Maxima, then activating Sleeper Cells exhausting Iron Man, Life Model Decoy and Quicksilver to ready Dr. Light. Before activating Triskelion (removing 0 cards) to grab Shimmer. Aaron then plays The Underworld Star from his row (Discarding Shimmer) to fetch Thor, recruiting him and activating his effect. With 16 cards removed from play and 31 still in the deck JS selects to lose 16 Endurance. Aaron then flips up a second triskelion, KOing the first to uniqueness, activating it (removing 0 cards) to fetch Press the attack. and immediately playing it to ready Thor for another activation for 17 endurance loss to JS. Finally, Dr. Light activates, stunning Captain America.

At the end of the build, JS activates Brainiac's effect to drop Dr. Light's DEF by 7.

    COMBAT PHASE

JS sends Mxy into Dr. Light for a stun and Black Bolt swings into Quicksilver for a mutual stun.


    RECOVERY PHASE

    Ultimate Fear -> -8    ...and the Horse you rode in on -> -24


        ULTIMATE FEAR WINS THE SPRINGTIME SMACKDOWN!



        POSTGAME THOUGHTS

JS Thoughts:
Both of us seemed to miss everything this last game, No team-up until turn 6 really cramped any early effectiveness Cap might have given me. Even with only a few Wasp activations Thor still hurts. A really fun game overall!

Aaron Thoughts:
Bad hands with timely KO options was enough to push the game in my favor and after barely squeaking by turn 6 on 3 endurance was able to secure some Thor activations. it was extremely interesting to see just how badly Lex shuts down this build.