Every 2 years...

That insatiable itch. That need to pit things together in a fight to the sweet bitter end.

If you are reading this you are the select few:

My chosen ones.

damn straight

The rules for your task:

- Each deck builder will receive a random selection of 3 pairings of two random teams.

- Each deck builder will select one pairing they feel best suits their interest, play-style or fun factor. This helps minimize horrible pairings.

- The 2 teams in this deck building project will be automatically crossed over as if they were printed. This allows underused dual loyal characters to shine!

- Each deck must contain at LEAST 15 cards specifically referencing each of their teams. So when counting make sure you have 15 actual cards, for each team represented

- While generic plot twists are fine, deck builders can never run any plot twist, location, or equipment that specifically references a team they were NOT assigned. (example: no slaughter swamp allowed unless you have secret society as a team)

- Unaffiliated characters and characters not within assigned teams are not permitted.

- The council approved ban/errata list is observed.

- MEV cards are banned.

- The coming of Galactus box is banned.

Things to consider: I'll also need a basic breakdown of these concoctions and what they intend to do. mulligan conditions, etc. The VS community is watching.

Decklist submissions should have characters listed from lowest to highest drop with all other card types grouped together.

all questions or completed lists can be pmed to me through facebook

or emailed to:
aaron.mead828@yahoo.ca

Something New: The VS System Commander format

Bored with VS? Need something new in your life but don't know what it is? Why don't you try the ...

 

VS SYSTEM COMMANDER FORMAT

Not THAT commander.

As our playgroup flew through the springtime smackdown sequel event these past few months, we found ourselves playing "Commander VS" on the side between games, it reached a point where the group became much more eager to try their commander builds than they were to get their games done in a timely fashion. Perhaps you guys will like this as much as we did!

****The Commander****

- Select a unique character with a cost of 3 or less to be your Commander before building your deck. At the start of the game It begins the game in play in the "commander zone". (similar to Alter ego's and the Galactus event avatar card.)

- Commander cards cannot be targeted by effects, they cannot become stunned, KO'd, Removed from Play or returned to a players hand, nor can they otherwise be made to leave their commander zone.
(If a commander's effect text has a cost instructing a player to do any of these, the cost cannot be played and therefore. The effect may not be used.)

- Commander cards are considered to have no printed Cost, or ATK or DEF values during a game. Similarly, Commanders do not have flight or range.

- A commander may be used to pay costs such as exhausting a dr. doom commander to play a Mystical Paralysis.

- The commander may never declare an attack or be attacked.

- Commander cards can never generate a counter that is not a cosmic counter. (sorry rad-man)

- The Commander is an avatar. It is not considered to be a "character" you control. However its effect is always relevant to your field.

****The Deck****

- The Character Cards in a Commander deck must consist of the affiliations represented on the commander. Unaffiliated cards, however, cannot be used unless your commander is unaffiliated.
(So for example, if your Commander is dual-affiliated X-Men and X-Factor, All characters in the deck must also represent one of those two printed affiliations)

- *Super Uniqueness* All character cards present in a commander deck may not contain cards with the same name as the selected commander. After all, there is only ONE TRUE Dr. Doom.

- Commander decks must consist of exactly 60 cards with no duplicate non-army cards. (this includes reprints)

- Commander decks may contain 2 copies of any army card.

- Unlike the character restrictions, Commander decks may use non-character cards that feature teams not present on the commander. (Straight to the grave, and slaughter swamp under an Avengers commander for example)

- Insanity can not be declared in commander. While insanity cards may be played, all insanity card effects are considered to be blank.

***The Commander Phase****

- At the start of each turn, before the Draw Phase, there is a commander phase. Here, you may declare your commander as inactive. Inactive Commanders are flipped face down, and are considered to have no powers or keywords. At the start of the next commander phase,  inactive commanders are flipped face-up. And the owner may once again decide if their commander will be active/inactive.
(this helps if your commander has a difficult negative penalty that is not viable at certain stages of the game, such as Lizard 1-drop or Lex luthor, president lex.)

****Gameplay Rules to note****

- Endurance totals in a commander game Begin at 50. In the cases of team games, add 25 endurance for each ally on your team to a maximum of 100. (Regardless of how many allies you have)

- At the start of the game, each player selects all printed team affiliations on their Commander and all character cards in their deck gain those affiliations. In team games, friendly affiliations are automatically crossed over. Any player running an unaffiliated commander deck may not gain any team affiliations in this way. (unaffiliated commander is essentially hard mode.)

****Multiplayer Card Errata****

When playing a multiplayer game we recommend the following errata on the following cards:

 - Amazo, Ivo's Android
 - Man-Bat, Dr. Robert Langstrom
 - Sabretooth, Killer Instinct
 - Sinestro, corrupted by the ring
 - Tasmanian Devil, Hugh Dawkins
 - Trok, deep six
 - Knockout, Female Fury
 - Two-Face, Split Personality

Add the preface:

    [When this card enters play, select an opponent.]

Then Replace all effect text with instances reading:

    [your opponent(s) control(s)]

with:

    [your selected opponent(s) control(s)]

Add this additional text using a line break:

    [At the start of your build phase, you may select an opponent.]

 

****Specific Card Errata****

 - Superman, Metropolis Marvel

Errata'd text for Multiplayer:

    [When this card enters play, select an opponent.
    Superman gets +1/+1 for each opposing character the selected player controls]

Add this additional text using a line break:

    [At the start of your build phase, you may select an opponent.]


 - Fatality, Okaaran Warrior

Errata'd text for Multiplayer:

    [When this card enters play, select an opponent.

    Fatality gets +1 ATK for each character card in the selected opponent's KO'd Pile.]

Add this additional text using a line break:

    [At the start of your build phase, you may select an opponent.]

 In addition, feel free to make your own adjustments, bannings or errata based on your local playgroup. We personally feel this covers most concerns but it may not cover them all.

 ****TLDR****

Commander format VS system is actually pretty damn fun! You'll find yourself with one deck that can easily use multiple commanders for some pretty unique effects! Just remember the super-uniqueness commanders demand! an arkham deck with great white as a commander will play drastically different from the same deck running rat catcher or calendar man! My personal favorite aspect of a commander format for VS is how a highlander build doesn't typically tax my cardpool very much, so i can make sure the decks i don't want to dismantle can stay relevant for standard play. also, this format finds a use for weapon of choice and other general searchers we long-forgot about!

The Springtime Smackdown 2 Conclusion: To the victor(s) go the spoils!

First and foremost: If you prefer no spoilers, you can jump directly to the
FINALS BATREP HERE

One Hundred and Nine blog posts ago, I had an itch. A tic in my mind. A compulsion that wouldn't subside. A nagging urge.

The VS System itch.

VS System has always latched onto me in a way I am unsure I will ever fully comprehend. I met my wife playing it. My daughter's first christmas ornament contribution was a lightly chewed Power-girl she found on the floor. At its best and worst, This game nurtured fond memories of a fantastic game, great sportsmanship, and long reaching coverage granting me close allies, lifelong collegues, and of course, some bitter farewells that I will carry with me to the end of my days.

It doesn't strike that often, to be honest, every 2 to 3 years maybe. But that itch, though.

God bless her, my wife doesn't understand it entirely. She patiently, perhaps even wisely allows it to run it's course. Every time I seek to "one-up" the previous one. Adding something to make it just a tad more convoluted or involved than the last time.

This is the origin story of the Springtime Smackdown.

 

And as long as there is a community to share it with, it will continue re-appearing every few seasons on your facebook feed asking a question, and doing its utmost to grant a good answer.

This year we asked: Which deck is king of the monster format we call "golden age"?

Well I have your answer for 2018:

Winning the best of 3 finals with a final match result of 2 to1, Touting a Game 3 score of an insane -32 to - 47 on turn 5... It was CAPTAIN ITALY, crushing its way to a victory over the Ever-deadly TNNB build. securing itself as the one true King of the Monsters!

...for now.

But that was not our only winner.

Concluding the springtime Smackdown 2: Kingmaker betting series, We have our final standings:

RESERVED FOR LUCA INVERNIZZI

Luca Invernizzi (spider-stall)
This Week- 50 pts
Total     -235 pts

Alessio Menzella (Spider-Stall)
This Week- 30 pts
Total     -231 pts

DJ Foley (Wolverine Direct)
This Week- 20 pts
Total      -219 pts

Aaron Atwood (Randomizer)
This Week-  0 pts
Total     -101 pts

Chad Jackson (Spider-Stall)
This Week-  0 pts
Total      - 50 pts

Joseph Corbett
This Week- 40 pts
Total     - 42 pts

Alessandro de Cossini (Spider-Stall)
This Week-  0 pts
Total     - 23 pts

Adam Miller (Just ONE)
This Week-  0 pts
Total     - 20 pts

Aaron Atwood
This week- 10 pts
Total     - 10 pts


It was Lucca's pick that shot him from 3rd place to 1st overall only missing the endurance total options in his picks!

The official results were as follows:

****FINAL RESULTS****

Series Winner - Captain Italy

Coin-toss - Captain Italy (Aaron)

First Blood - TNNB

Last turn - turn 5

Series result - 2 games to 1

life of winner - -32 endurance

life of loser - -47 endurance

I hope you readers out there had some measure of enjoyment reading these match reports and following along as a grown man skirted his duties to host a tournament of champions and share it with the world with as much detail as he could manage.
I'd like to thank my wife for her unwavering patience as we worked on this for what became 2 straight months, My playgroup, none of this happens without you. And the community. Still proving that Upper Deck was wrong all these years later.

So get building those Captain Italy variants folks! There's a new Big Nasty on the block.

And he is Italian.

GRAND FINALS: TNNB VS Captain Italy

TNNB

Steph

-VS-

Captain Italy

Aaron

-GAME 1-

Aaron wins the cointoss and elects to take evens.


Steph mulligans.

Aaron keeps.



        TURN 1 (Steph Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Steph sets a resource and recruits Tempo and passes.

Aaron sets a resource and recruits Moonstar and passes.

    COMBAT PHASE

Aaron activates Moonstar, returning her to his hand and rallying for a plot twist 3 times (Revealing Null time zone, trouble with dinosaurs and moonstar) keeping the plot twists and placing the character onthe bottom of her deck.

Steph swings direct for 2.

    RECOVERY PHASE

    TNNB -> 50    Captain Italy -> 48




        TURN 2 (Aaron Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Aaron sets a resource and recruits Moonstar then passes.

Steph sets a resource and reveals Scanner and Rem-Ram in her row to play Amelia for free. She then recruits Rem-Ram from her row, replacing the resource with a card from her hand. Rem-Ram's effect triggers (revealing The next Brotherhood, KLeinstock Brothers, Unuscione, and the new brotherhood) She elects to keep Unuscione, placing the rest on the bottom of her deck.

    COMBAT PHASE

Aaron activates Moonstar (revealing Warp Shards, Trouble with dinos, and Techno-organic virus) keeping them all.

Steph swings direct with everything for 5.

    RECOVERY PHASE

    TNNB -> 50    Captain Italy -> 43




        TURN 3 (Steph Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Steph sets a resource and recruits barnacle and Unuscione. She forms unuscione protected by Barnacle and forms Tempo and Amelia on either side of Banacle in her front row with Rem-Ram in the wings before she passes.

Aaron sets a resource and recruits Dr. Doom, richards' rival. His effect triggers and Aaron searches his deck and places Trouble with Dinosaurs on the top before passing.

    COMBAT PHASE

Steph declares her 4/1 Barnacle into Doom. Once legal, Aaron powers up. Steph responds with a rowed Planet X plipping and replacing it for +2 ATK on Barnacle. She continues with The Next Brotherhood played from her hand granting her board an additional +2 ATK for the turn and both players pass into the mutual stun. Then steph swings everything direct for 18 more.

Aaron flips up Lust for power, KOing Doom.

    RECOVERY PHASE

Steph recovers Barnacle.

    TNNB -> 49    Captain Italy -> 19




        TURN 4 (Aaron Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Steph draws 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE
Instead of drawing cards, Lust for Power triggers (Revealing 2x Trouble with dinos, Recon Program, Only Human and Bodyslide.
Aaron also plays a rowed Null Time Zone and calls The New Brotherhood.

Aaron sets a resource and recruits the Captain and passes.

Steph sets a resource and recruits Kleinstock Brothers. She forms for reinforcement. With Kleinstock Bros, Unuscione, and Rem-Ram protected by Amelia, Barnacle and Tempo, respectively. And Steph passes.

    COMBAT PHASE
The Captain's effect triggers and Aaron ponders the board for some time before finally deciding for it to gain the name Cable and drawing a card. He then plays techno-Organic Virus from his hand to draw 4 cards. And then plays another for 4 more. he plays a Straight to the Grave from his hand to send The ca[ptain to his KO pile and then plays a rowed Recon Program to get it to his hand.

He then declares The Captain into Unuscione. Passing once legal. Steph reinforces with Rem-Ram and both pass for the 1-sided stun. Aaron thebn passes his combat.

Steph team swings her front row into Captain Cable for a mutual stun between Cap and Amelia and both players pass to recovery.

    RECOVERY PHASE

Aaron recovers Captain Cable.

Steph recovers Unuscione, KOing Amelia.

    TNNB -> 45    Captain Italy -> 15




        TURN 5 (Steph Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Steph draws 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE
Instead of drawing cards, Lust for Power triggers (Revealing 2x Null Time Zones, Flame Trap, Savage beatdown, and Reconstruction program) keeping them all.

Steph sets a resource and recruits a rowed Scanner, opting not to replace it. She then reveals a rowed Unuscione and Rem-Ram to recruits a Rowed Amelia for free (replacing the resource with a card in her hand) She then forms up Rem-Ram and Kleinstock into her front row and passes.

Aaron sets a resource, and recruits the Captain followed by Moonstar protecting the new 4 drop and passes.

    COMBAT PHASE
Captain Cable gains the name Annihilus. Drawing Aaron a card.
The Captain gains the name Cable. Drawing Another card.

Aaron Activates Moonstar, spinning her (Revealing Techno-Organic Virus, Pathetic Attempt and Bodyslide) keeping them all. he then plays the virus to draw 4. and plays Flame Trap from his hand (discarding a Bodyslide and a Pathetic Attempt) This stuns Stephs entire board with the exception of Scanner. Steph then activates Scanners effect replacing a rowed Rem ram.

Steph flips up The New Brotherhood and declares Scanner into Captain Cable Annihilus. Aaron surveys the board and plays 2 rowed Common Bonds (discarding 2 Pathetic Attempts) to grant his 4 drops +8 ATK also ensuring the stunback. Steph plays Air Strike (replacing a face down Meltdown) for +4 ATK and Aaron responds with a Wave of Destruction, paying 6 endurance to replace all 5 of his face up resources and stephs New Brotherhood.
After it resolves steph plays air strike replacing a face down New brotherhood for +4 ATK and plays 1 final air strike replacing a rowed tempo for +2 ATK before passing with a 20 ATK scanner.
Both pass for a mutual stun. Aaron chooses not to reinforce.

Aaron sends Captain Cable direct. Once legal playing a Common Bond from his hand (discarding pathetic Attempt) and once legal he plays a playset of Trouble with Dinos and 2 Savage Beatdowns before powering up twice and then playing two recon programs to power-up 2 more times for a total swing of 57 direct.

    RECOVERY PHASE

    TNNB -> -25    Captain Italy -> -9


Captain Italy wins game 1!



Thoughts:

Steph - Everytime this list misses Senyaka it loses. As soon as i saw him score the flametrap I knew it was over though.

Aaron - FLAMETRAP. Oh man what a nuke!

-GAME 2-

Steph chooses Even initiative.


Steph keeps.

Aaron Keeps.



        TURN 1 (Aaron Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Aaron sets a resource and recruits Moonstar.

Steph sets a resource and passes.

    COMBAT PHASE

Aaron activates Moonstar (revealing The Captain, techno-Organic Virus and trouble with Dinos) keeping the plot twists and placing the cap on the bottom of his deck.

    RECOVERY PHASE

    TNNB -> 50    Captain Italy -> 50




        TURN 2 (Steph Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Steph sets a resource and recruits Rem-Ram (Revealing barnacle, Spoor, Kleinstock Bros and Call down the Lightning) She chooses Kleinstock Bros and recruits them in her front row, passing her build.

Aaron sets a resource and recruits Moonstar.

    COMBAT PHASE

Aaron activates Moonstar (revealing 2x Bodyslides and a captain) keeping the bodyslides.

Steph sends rem-ram and Kleinsock Bros in a team swing Direct. Once legal She flips up The New Brotherhood to deal 7 direct.

    RECOVERY PHASE

    TNNB -> 50    Captain Italy -> 43




        TURN 3 (Aaron Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Aaron sets a resource and recruits Moonstar then passes.

Steph sets a resource and recruits Senyaka. forming him behind Rem-Ram

    COMBAT PHASE

Aaron Activates Moonstar (revealing Pathetic Attempt, Flame Trap, and recostruction program)
"aww MAAAN."

Steph declares a mass team swing direct. Once legal she plays a rowed Planet X, replacing it to give Senyaka +2 ATK. She then follows up with a Next Brotherhood played from her hand and plays air Strike (replacing a face down barnacle) targetting Senyaka as well for 26 direct.

    RECOVERY PHASE

    TNNB -> 50    Captain Italy -> 17




        TURN 4 (Steph Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Steph sets a resource and recruits a rowed Spoor into her front row. Senyaka's effect triggers dealing 2 endurance damage to Aaron and she replaces the resource with a card from her hand and forms Spoor Protecting Senyaka with Kleinstock Bros and rem-ram in her front row she then passes.

Aaron sets a resource and recruits The Captain in his support row and plays Only Human onto Spoor before he passes.

    COMBAT PHASE
The Captain Gains the name Cable and Aaron draws a card.

Steph declares Rem-Ram and Kleinstock Bros in a team-swing into The Captain, flipping up a second New Brotherhood once legal.
Aaron plays Techno-org viris to draw 4. then plays another for 4 more. He then plays Flametrap (discarding Moonstar and Doom) to stun her attackers.

Steph then sends Senyaka into Captain Cable with at 9/4.
Aaron plays SttG (sending The Captain to his KO pile) and plays reconstruction program to recur it and power-up following up with another captain powering up again.

Steph makes note of Aaron's endurance total (12) and sends the 11 ATK Spoor direct. Once legal playing Call down the Lightning (replacing Joanna Cargill) for +3 ATK and game.


    RECOVERY PHASE

    TNNB -> 45    Captain Italy -> -2



TNNB Wins Game 2!


Thoughts:

Aaron - double New brotherhoods will get ya.

Steph - Smashy Smashy!

-GAME 3-

Aaron chooses even initiative.


Steph Mulligans.

Aaron keeps.



        TURN 1 (Steph Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Steph sets a resource and recrtuits Tempo in her front row and passes.

Aaron sets a resource and recruits Moonstar and passes.

    COMBAT PHASE

Aaron activates Moonstar (revealing Warp Shards, wave of destruction and Trouble with Dinosaurs) keeping them all.

Steph declares a direct attack with tempo. Once legal, she flips up The New Brotherhood.
"Well Shit."

    RECOVERY PHASE

    TNNB -> 50    Captain Italy -> 46




        TURN 2 (Aaron Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Aaron sets a resource and recruits Moonstar and passes.

Steph sets a resource and recruits Rem-Ram (revealing 2x new Brotherhoods, Amelia voght and barnacle) She curses and takes Barnacle recruiting him in her front row.

"close call, a second new brotherhood on turn 3 would have been brutal. a third on 4 would have been GG."

Steph forms Barnacle in her front row between Rem and Tempo and passes.

    COMBAT PHASE
Moonstar activates (revealing Lust for power, Reconstruction Program adn Only HUman) keeping them all.

Steph swings with everything direct for 10.

    RECOVERY PHASE

    TNNB -> 50    Captain Italy -> 36




        TURN 3 (Steph Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Steph sets a resource and recruits Senyaka from her hand. Forming him behind Barnacle and passing.

Aaron sets a resource and recruits Dr. Doom. Entering play Doom lets Aaron fetch and place a Flametrap on the top of his deck and passes.

    COMBAT PHASE

Steph sends barnacle into Dr. Doom. Once legal, she plays The Next Brotherhood from her hand resulting in an easy mutual stun. she then sends the rest direct for 20.

    RECOVERY PHASE

Aaron recovers Dr. Doom.

Steph chooses not to recover Barnacle, KOing it.

    TNNB -> 49    Captain Italy -> 9




        TURN 4 (Aaron Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)
At the end of the draw phase, Aaron Flips up a rowed Null Time Zone. Steph has no response and Aaron calls The Next brotherhood. Then he flips up Lust for power since it triggers in the build phase, KOing Doom.

    BUILD PHASE
Lust for power triggers (revealing Trouble with Dinos, 2x SttG's Dr. Doom and Pathetic Attempt) Doom goes to the bottom, the rest Aaron keeps.

Aaron sets a resource and recruits The Captain in his support row adjacent to Doom and passes.

Steph sets a resource and recruits a rowed Anne-Marie Cortez. Senyaka triggers dealing 2 damage to aaron dropping hisprecarious Endurance totals even lower to 7. She forms Anne Marie protecting Senyaka with re and tempo on either side of her and passes.

    COMBAT PHASE
The captain triggers and as the off-turn player anne marie triggers afterwards. The chain resolves:
Anne-marie triggers, Revealing a face down Joanna.
The Captain triggers, becoming Captain Blink and drawing Aaron a card.
"No techno-organics for you this turn"

Aaron plays warp Shards from his hand, shifting Anne-Marie from play with 4 shift counters. Then he plays another Warp Shards, shifting Senyaka from play, shifted with 3 shift counters. Next he plays a rowed Flametrap, (discarding Wave of Destruction and The Captain) to stun the rest of Stephs board.

Aaron declares an attack direct with Captain Blink and plays 2 trouble with Dinos once it is legal for 21 direct.

Both pass to recovery.


    RECOVERY PHASE

Steph recovers Tempo, KOing Rem-Ram.

    TNNB -> 26    Captain Italy -> 7




        TURN 5 (Steph Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
Aaron chains to the draw and plays and plays a rowed Null Time Zone. Steph passes and Aaron calls The next brotherhood.
(Steph draws 2 cards)
Aaron plays two SttG's from his hand (sending The Captain and Dr. Doom)

    BUILD PHASE
Lust for power triggers, (revealing savage beatdown, SttG, Techno-organic virus, Moonstar and reconstruction program) keeping all but Moonstar. He then plays SttG (sending moonstar)

Steph sets a resource and shifts Anne-marie and senyaka into play and recruits a rowed Scanner, dealing 2 damage and electing not to replace the resource. She forms Anne-Marie protecting Senyaka and passes.

Aaron sets a resource and recruits the captain and moonstar, forming moonstar protecting captain Blink and passes.

    COMBAT PHASE
Anne-Marie triggers, followed by Both of Aaron's Captains.
The chain resolves:
Captain Blink gains the name Cable, drawing Aaron a card.
The Captain gains the name Annihilus, drawing Aaron a card.
Anne-Marie triggers, and Aaron chains Techno-organic virus and Moonstar.
Moonstar resolves (revealing Wave of Destruction, recon program, and savage beatdown, then The virus resolves drawing Aaron 4 cards
Again Aaron chains to Anne-marie and plays another virus to draw 4 cards.
Chaining again to Anne-Marie Aaron plays a rowed Common Bond (discarding a Pathetic Attempt) and then chains Wave of Destruction, paying 6 endurance to replace all his resources as well as Stephs New Brotherhood.
Wave of destruction resolves.
Common Bond resolves giving all Aarons 4 cost characters +4 ATK this turn and again, Aaron chains to Cortez's effect a rowed Tech virus, and two Recon programs.
the recons each get a captain and tech virus draws Aaron 4 cards

One last time, Aaron chains to Anne-Marie before she resolves. He plays 3 common bonds from his hand (discarding Pathetic attempt, and 2 Captains) and then plays 2 bodyslides.

the bodyslides resolve, removing the two 4 drops from play and the common bonds resolve.
FINALLY Anne-Marie resolves, revealing a 3 cost Joanna.

Steph activates Scanner's effect (replacing a Joanna) to stack ehr top 4 cards. and team swings everything direct, powering up Senyaka twice and playing meltdown to replace a face down Rem-Ram. Then she plays a rowed Call-down the lightning On tempo (replacing Kleinstock Bros) Flipping and replacing a planet X for another +2 ATK on tempo and discards a tempo from her hand powering up to push Aaron to -31 Endurance. She passes.

"That's all I've got."

Both captain return to play still enjoying the quad Common Bond modifiers and Aaron sends the first one into Senyaka at 23/6 for an easy stun. Next The remaining Captain swings into Tempo. Once legal, Aaron plays a rowed Trouble with Dinos and then plays a playset of savage beatdowns onto his attacker. He then plays 2 recon programs to power up twice, hitting for 51 and sealing the game.

    RECOVERY PHASE

    TNNB -> -47    Captain Italy -> -32


Captain Italy wins the Springtime Smackdown 2: Kingmaker event 2 games to 1!


Thoughts:

Steph -  I was digging deep but couldn't find another 4 drop for Anne-maries effect to lockdown the pile of pumps i knew were coming.

Aaron - So many other games I was misplaying Lust for power. I kept treating it like a draw phase effect not a build phase effect. so you can draw, THEN ko doom THEN get up to 5 more cards. A stupid good card in this deck.

The Goods: Week 8 - The Finals

So here we are: 

The finals.

And with it, one last chance for me to give you all...

So first of all, to you gamblers wanting to immortalize yourselves in the glory of Banner-hood for the VS system Collective We are going all out. So betters! Here is how you can score in this final week:

10 points: Call the series winner
10 points: Call who wins the opening coin-toss.
10 points: Call which team lands first blood damage in game 1.
10 points: Call what turn the game ends in the final game.
10 points: Call the series result (Example: TNNB wins 2 games to 1)
2x points: Call the endurance total of the winner in the final game within 5 points.
3x points: Call the exact endurance point total of the loser of the last game.

Now take note! to double your score you don't need to guess WHO wins, just the the general area the winner ends the game on for endurance. So if you picked, say 35, if the winner ends anywhere from 30 to 40 endurance at the end of the game, you DOUBLE your points! Not bad! thats 100 potential points!

HOWEVER, there is a dark horse pick! Pick the exact endurance of the LOSER of the last game. and your new total is tripled.
That is 300 points on a perfectly picked series! This means that there is a chance even a player that has never made a single pick yet could walk out as the pick-master supreme champion!


Now lets take a look at the finals match-up.

GRAND FINAL - TNNB(Steph) VS (Aaron)Captain Italy
This is it. We started with 32 of the biggest, baddest, most frustrating and the fastest builds out there that we could find. And these are the two that survived bad matchups and occasionally... bad play and they are still here.

In one corner stands a build that needs no introduction.
The New Next Brotherhood has long been a mainstay of winning culture since its inception. An example of the monsters that exist in a long-forgotten age where only the strong survive. It's simple consistency reigns supreme while its ease of use can be often mistaken for a lack of complexity and far-sighted deck-building.
Not so. Rather it is a shining example of advanced deck design boasting unique answers to many problematic builds it may cross paths with while keeping true to a merciless tempo.
The king of old has come to defend its crown.


In the other corner, we have some new blood.
Captain Italy is a newcomer to a formal top finish listing, but do not be fooled by its unique approach and campy style. It doesn't actually Play VS against its opponents, rather, it dares opponents to win within 4 turns. and plays virtually zero defenses. And then, if the opponent fails, it wins on an improbably explosive turn 5 with what I would describe as, the most efficient series of pumps, removal and answers a single turn could ever boast with a consistency that even the deck's pilot finds surprising.
See, the problem with older classics like TNNB being labelled as King of a monster format is, when a contest of monsters is started, you occasionally attract the attention of something undiscovered.
Something Unique, and unanswered. Something that doesn't seem to have an immediately observable weakness.
A new monster.

Favored to Win: No line.

Best of luck to those picking this week!

THIS LINKS YOU TO THE OFFICIAL PICKS THREAD ON THE VS SYSTEM COLLECTIVE

CHECK THE TOP 8 BEST OF THREE BRACKET HERE

Postgame Report: Seminfinals - Week 7

A 71 point swing in a single turn! A match determined by a single point in game 3!
Holy cow these decks deserve to be here! It`s time for...

Semifinals Match 5 - TNNB VS Anti-Matter

TNNB was business as usual in game 1, but Anti-Matter managed to claw a game 2 win leaving it all on the table for a game three that ended on TNNB playing meltdown to sneak in a completely reidiculous match by the skin of their teeth -8 to -9.

Final: TNNB  ELIMINATES  Anti-Matter

2 games to 1

Semifinals Match 6 - Fantastic Fun 2.0 VS Captain Italy 

This is one that could have legitimately gone either way. but in practice Null time zone into warp shards into Null time zone was just a bitter bitter pill for the fantastic four list to swallow.As things went decidedly in favor of Captain Italy.
In game one Italy drew the nuts and swung once for game on turn 4 reducing fantastic 4 from 50 endurance to -4 in a single swing.
In game 2 it was a bit more of a fight, as Italy overcame a 32 point lead favoring Fantastic Fun exiting turn 4 to hit back with a monster swing of 71 points of damage to lock game 2.
This deck is for real folks. What`s more, it`s in the finals.

Final: Fantastic Fun 2.0  ELIMINATED BY  Captain Italy

2 games to 0

CHECK THE TOP 8 BRACKET HERE

Semifinals Match 5: TNNB VS Anti-Matter

TNNB

Steph

-VS-

Anti-Matter

Aaron

-GAME 1-

Aaron wins the flip and elects to take odd initiatives.

Steph Keeps.
Aaron Mulligans.



        TURN 1 (Aaron Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Aaron sets a resource and passes.

Steph sets a resource and recruiits Kleinstock bros.

    COMBAT PHASE

Steph swings the Bros direct for 2.

    RECOVERY PHASE

    TNNB -> 50    Anti-Matter -> 48




        TURN 2 (Steph Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Steph sets a resource and reveals Unuscione and Anne-Marie Cortez to recruit Amelia Voght for free. She then recruits Unuscione from her row, replacing it with a card in hand and passes.

Aaron sets a resource and recruits two anti-green lanterns from his hand hidden and passes.

    COMBAT PHASE

steph flips up a rowed New Brotherhood and swings everything direct for 13 and passes.

Aaron sends an AGL into Unuscione for a mutual trade and then sends the second into Kleinstock Brothers. trading into The Bros for another mutual trade.

    RECOVERY PHASE

Steph recovers Unuscione, KOing Kleinstick Brothers.

Aaron recovers an AGL, KOing the other.

    TNNB -> 42    Anti-Matter -> 33




        TURN 3 (Aaron Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Aaron sets a resource and recruits Slipstream into his Visible area and equips it with a Ring of the Sinestro Corps and passes.

Steph sets a resource and wiffs. forming both her characters into her support row.

"uh oh."
"shut up, you."

    COMBAT PHASE

Aaron declares slipstream into Amelia. for an easy stun. Steph reinforces. Then Aaron pays 3 endurance and then swings slipstream into Unuscione for a mutual trade. He then sends his AGL direct for 4 and plays a rowed Emerald Dawn to KO it and search out Xallarap.
both players pass.

    RECOVERY PHASE

Aaron recovers Slipstream.

Steph recovers Unuscione, KOing Amelia.

    TNNB -> 30    Anti-Matter -> 27




        TURN 4 (Steph Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Steph sets a resource and reveals a rowed Scanner and Anne-Marie to free recruit an Amelia in front of Unuscione. She then recruits the rowed Anne-marie replacing it with a card from her hand and passing her build.

Aaron sets a resource and recruits Chomin in his hidden area follewed by Xallarap hidden as well, protecting Chomin.

    COMBAT PHASE
Anne-Marie's effect triggers.
Aaron chains Matter Convergence, a rowed Crackshot, a rowed Flying Kick and a second Flying kick from his hand all on slipstream. Matter Convergence moves Slipstream to Aaron's hidden area.
Anne-Marie resolves, revealing a rowed Anne-Marie.
"whew! That was close!"

Steph swings everything direct. Flipping and playing PLanet X, replacing itself to grant +2 ATK to  Amelia. She continues, playing the next Brotherhood, Call down the lightning (replacing Anne Marie) Then plays a rowed Air Strike (replacing a rowed Mystique) then flipping up and using the effect of Planet X to grant +2 ATK to Unuscione and replace itself. Leaving Aaron at -7 Steph passes.

Aaron declares slipstream into Unuscione. Once legal playing Thunderous Onslaught to move him to the visible area for an additional +2 ATK and unstunnability for an easy 1-sided stun. Unfortunately in the negatives, Aaron can't pay to ready him.

"Uh Oh." It was steph's turn to mock Aaron.
"Shut up, you."

Aaron then declares Xallarap into Amelia Voght, once legal, playing Thunderous Onslaught from his hand and moving it into his visible area for another easy stun. he then passes.

    RECOVERY PHASE

    TNNB -> 0    Anti-Matter -> -7

TNNB wins game 1!


Thoughts:

Aaron - I was sure i had it. right up until i went to pay to ready... haha. Oh well. We'll try evens next and see how things go.

Steph - Hey Aaron. SMASHY SMASHY! Haha!

-GAME 2-

Aaron chooses even initiatives this time.

Both players Keep.



        TURN 1 (Steph Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Steph sets a resource and recruits Rem-Ram (revealing Senyaka, Scanner, teh next brotherhood, and Amelia) After some prolonged thought, she decides to put Amelia into her hand and passes.

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

    COMBAT PHASE

Steph flips up The New Brotherhood and Aaron groans. Then swings Rem-Ram direct for 3.

Aaron sends Chomin into rem-Ram for a mutual stun and passes.

    RECOVERY PHASE

Steph recovers Rem-ram.

Aaron recovers Chomin.

    TNNB -> 49    Anti-Matter -> 46




        TURN 2 (Aaron Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Aaron sets a resource and recruits an AGL in his hidden area protecting Chomin and passes.

Steph sets a resource and recrutis Mystique into her hidden area adn Barnacle in her front row adjacent to Rem-Ram and passes.

    COMBAT PHASE

Aaron sends the AGL into barnacle. once legal he plays Cosmic Conflict for +4 ATK and moves his AGL visible before passing into a mutual stun.

Steph sends Rem-Ram and Mystique direct for 6 and passes.

    RECOVERY PHASE

Aaron recovers his AGL.

Steph recovers barnacle.

    TNNB -> 41    Anti-Matter -> 40




        TURN 3 (Steph Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Steph sets a resource and reveals a rowed Anne-Marie Cortez and Joanna Cargill to recruit Amelia for free and then recruits Joanna from her row (replacing it with a card from her hand) and forms them all in her front row (no range anyway)

Aaron sets a resource and recruits Xallarap protecting Chomin and passes.

    COMBAT PHASE

Steph sends the 5/1 barnacle into the visible AGL for a mutual stun She then team swings Joanna, Re-Ram, and amelia direct for 14 and finally swings direct with her hidden Mystique. Once legal she plays Air strike fromher hand to replace a face down Meltdown for +4 ATK and passes.

Aaron sends Xallarap into Amelia for an easy stun and then uses Chomin's effect to stun him and deal 3 damage to Steph before passing.

    RECOVERY PHASE

Steph recovers Amelia, KOing barnacle.

Aaron recovers Xallarap, KOing AGL.

    TNNB -> 29    Anti-Matter -> 14




        TURN 4 (Aaron Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Aaron sets a resource and plays a rowed The Ring has Chosen searching out Slipstream (discarding an AGL) and recruiting Slipstream into play in his visible support row before recruiting an AGL hidden. He passes.

Steph sets a resource and recruits Anne-Marie Cortex from her row (replacing the card with one from her hand) Sensing Steph might have that key 1 drop reservist, Aaron plays a rowed Megablast, a rowed cosmic Conflict, and a flying kick from his hand. Moving Slipstream to his hidden area.
Steph forms everything up front

    COMBAT PHASE
Anne-Marie reveals a rowed Spoor.

"oh. no more 1 drops huh."
"nope." She pops the 'p' sound as she says it.

Aaron declares his Xallarap into Anne-Marie for a mutual stun and then sends his AGL into Rem-Ram. Once legal steph plays a Next brotherhood from her hand and the attack becomes a mutual stun. Aaron then declares Slipstream into Joanna. Once legal he plays Thunderous Onslaught from his hand and moves slipstream to his visible front row and pays 3 endurance for his unstunnable attacker to ready before playing a rowed Matter Convergence to send him back into his hidden area with a final ATK value of 20ATK on teh unstunnable swing.
Joanna stuns.
Next aaron sends Slipstream into Amelia with 18 ATK, ending in a mutual stun. Finally Chomin swings direct for 2 and Aaron passes.

Steph swings with what she has. A 5/2 Mystique. Once legal she plays Call Down the Lightning from her hand (replacing Amelia) And plays a rowed Air Strike (replacing Spoor) She then flips up another rowed Air strike (replacing Joanna) and then plays a rowed meltdown to gain 2 endurance.

    RECOVERY PHASE

    TNNB -> -15    Anti-Matter -> -5

Anti-Matter wins Game 2!


Thoughts:

Steph - it looke like this is the battle for evens. Too bad i get it next game. Haha!

Aaron - We'll see how things go.

-GAME 3-

Steph chooses evens.


Steph Keeps.

Aaron Mulligans.



        TURN 1 (Aaron Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Aaron sets a resource and passes.

Steph sets a resource and recruits kleinstock bros.

    COMBAT PHASE

The bros go direct for 2.

    RECOVERY PHASE

    TNNB -> 50    Anti-Matter -> 48




        TURN 2 (Steph Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Steph sets a resource and reveals a face-down Spoor and a face-down Mystique to play Amelia for free. She follows up recruiting Mystique from her row (replacing with a card in her hand) and then recruits barnacle from her hand forming them all into her front row but not placing barnacle adjacent to any others and passing her build.

Aaron sets a resource and recruits an AGL hidden. he then plays a rowed the ring Has Chosen to fetch Chomin (discarding an AGL) he recruits Chomin in his hidden area and passes.

    COMBAT PHASE

Steph flips up The New Brotherhood and swings with everything direct like a BOSS.

Aaron sends his AGL into barnacle for a 1-sided stun then sends Chomin into Kleinstock bros for a mutual ttrade. He then plays emeral Dawn from his hand (koing AGL) to fetch Xallarap.

    RECOVERY PHASE

Steph recovers Kleinstick Brothers, KOing Barnacle.

Aaron recovers Chomin.

    TNNB -> 44    Anti-Matter -> 33




        TURN 3 (Aaron Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Aaron sets a resource and recruits Slipstream in his hidden front row and equips Chomin it with a ring of the sinestro corps and passes.
"lets try something drastic."

Steph sets a resource and recruits Senyaka. She forms kleinstock bros protecting Amelia and forms Senyaka adjacent to Amelia in the support row and passes.

    COMBAT PHASE

Aaron sends Chomin into Amelia for a mutual trade. Steph thinks and finally decides to reinforce the single point of breakthrough damage.
Aaron then declares Slipstream into Kleinstock Bros, Once legal, playing Thunderous Onslaught for +2 ATk this attack and moving Slipstream into his visible support row. he pays 3 endurance to make slipstream a readied attacker and plays a rowed Megablast and flying kick before playing aCrackshot from his hand, passing at an unstunnable 16 ATK for the easy stun. Continuing, he sends Slipstream into Senyaka at 14 ATK for a mutual stun and passes.

Steph sends Mystique direct for 3.

    RECOVERY PHASE

Steph recovers Senyaka, KOing Amelia and Kleinstock Brothers.

Aaron Recovers Slipstream, KOing Chomin.

    TNNB -> 13    Anti-Matter -> 26




        TURN 4 (Steph Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE
(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Steph sets a resource and recruits Spoor from her row, triggering Senyaka for 2 endurance loss to Aaron. She replaces teh resource with a card from her hand and forms Spoor protecting senyaka before passing.

Aaron sets a resource and recruits Xallarap in his hidden area followed by Chomin and passes.

    COMBAT PHASE

Steph declares Senyaka into Slipstream. Once legal, playing The Next Brotherhood from her hand.
"Aw crap. Now im forced to do something dumb."

Aaron flips up Matter Convergence and moves Slipstream to his hidden area protecting Chomin. Then reinforces Slipstream with Chomin.

"you sneaky..."

Steph then declares Spoor direct with 11. Once legal she uses his effect (replacing Kleinstock Brothers) for +3/-3 for 14 direct. Steph then plays a rowed Meltdown to replace Tempo. and swings direct with Mystique for 5. before passing. leaving Aaron at 2 endurance.

"that BS play saved your ass."
"Did it?"

Unable to survive a stunback aaron is forced to pass.

"OOOOH."

    RECOVERY PHASE
Xallarap's effect triggers KOing it.

Steph recovers Senyaka.

Aaron recovers Slipstream.

    TNNB -> 10    Anti-Matter -> 2




        TURN 5 (Aaron Initiative)

    DRAW PHASE(Both Players draw 2 cards)

    BUILD PHASE

Aaron sets a resource and recruits Xallarap hidden and passes.

Steph sets a resource and recruits a rowed Unuscione replacing the resource with a card from her hand. Senyaka triggers dealing 2 endurance loss. Then steph recruits a rowed Joanna Cargill, electing not to replace the resource, again dealing 2 damage to Aaron. she forms Spoor protecting Senyaka and Joanna protecting unuscione and passes.

    COMBAT PHASE

Aaron plays a rowed flying kick onto Chomin and sends it into Unuscione for a mutual trade, he follows up with Xallarap swinging into Spoor and plays Thunderous Onslaught to move him visible and prevent the stunback, Finally he sends slipstream into Joanna for a mutual trade ending his initiative.

this leaves the score with Steph at -7 to Aaron's -6. and one card in stephs hand.

"If you are forced to team swing, I win. if you have the pump, you win."

Steph surveys the field and declares a team swing of Mystique and senyaka into Xallarap. the two 3 drops trade.

Steph Smiles.

Steph plays meltdown. Gaining 2 endurance.

"wow. you've gotta be shitting me."
"Smashy Smashy."

    RECOVERY PHASE

    TNNB -> -8    Anti-Matter -> -9

TNNB hangs on for dear life in a nail-biter Finale to Secure its spot in the finals!


Thoughts:

Aaron - Haha wow are you kidding me? a 1 point game 3 victory by a camped Meltdown? Damn thats cold.

Steph - SMASHY. SMASHY. Haha.