In the Before Times, I’d made a trip to HeroClix Worlds Championship in Memphis. Wrote about it here. But this one was for real, for all four days, with me entering actual events and things!
FIRST THING: BATTLE ROYALS
Some players get salty at pulling a nice figure in their draft but not getting to keep it. But man, I love these. It’s getting to PLAY that piece that I like best. And if I play well enough? I *do* get to keep it.
I also like being able to fight for the right to take that best-thing-on-the-board. And Worlds is THEEE BEST venue to do it, because WizKids adds lots to the prize pool.
I walked off with a chase Apocalypse. Totally worth skipping the Silver Age event I’d originally planned to play.
SECOND THING: TEAMS
I was there with a couple of other Georgia boys, Matthew and Phillip, me being the third and final member of the team. Here’s how Teams works:
The three of you pay for a brick. Build three 300-point forces from the contents.
Matt used the Cap Britain Rogue prime and Phil and I talked him into adding Monarch. Phillip made a S.W.O.R.D. team. I built this from our remaining X-Men:
Cyclops (X of Swords 021) 35. Recruiter, Leadership.
Dani Moonstar (X of Swords 009) 50. High AV triple Mind Control
Gorgon (X of Swords 014) @35 + Sword Bearer 5. I forget which sword, though. Outwit.
Hope Summers (X of Swords 052) @100. Main attacker … in theory.
Peeper (X of Swords 018) 25. For range boost and Empower.
Storm (X of Swords 001) 45 + Sword Bearer 5. I forget which sword, though. Perplex and FREE Force Blast
= 300 points
with Recruiter trait sideliners Bishop, Cable, Colossus, Cypher, Honey Badger, Iceman, Lockheed and one other I can’t quite recall
We got off to a hot start, going 3-0. But I didn’t win another single game. I’d been so concerned with the Sideline that I didn’t realize Hope was seriously lacking the powers she needed to be the lead attacker instead of a 100-point support fig. (If I did it again, I’d drop Gorgon, Peeper and both sword equips to fit on Cable at full points. Now THAT pair could fight!)
THIRD THING: TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY
So you had to have one character representing each.
Tinker = Scientist keyword. Phastos (Eternals 020).
Tailor = Celebrity keyword. Captain America (Disney Plus 056) @125
Soldier = Soldier keyword. Rikki Barnes (Empyre 072).
Spy = Spy keyword. WOTR chase Black Widow (War of the Realms 057).
Silly me, I actually stuck to just four characters. But the scenario was a requirement, not a limitation, so at 400 points, players were able to fit, say, legacy Thanos onto the TTSS minimums, sooo … I faced that ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I still won a match. And none of the 3 rounds was a blowout, though the second saw the most 1’s I have EVER seen in a HeroClix game. Nearly every attack had a 1. A Plasticity character needed FOUR ROLLS (that’s three straight Probs) to get a breakaway. That’s how wild it was.
My Teams captain Matt wound up placing first. While others were cheesing it up with meta team + TTSS stuff, he won out with a much more in-the-spirit force.
FOURTH: Worlds!
So this year, Worlds Championship was an open event. No WKO points were required to play; just having them would earn you a bye from the first round.
Somehow, I actually had WKO points! (Probably left over from a top 16 finish from late 2019 or early 2020 … I forget.) But I was here to play, not win, so I skipped the bye.
See, I had a dream.
Because a thing I decided to do early on in this hobby was to build a competitive team composed solely of Black characters. When I started, back in 2005-2006, that was an impossibility. But by 2017, I totally did it. I would’ve taken that force to Worlds. I made my friends playtest their best squads against it.
Well, this time I was —AT— Worlds and this was my shot.
Captain America (Disney Plus ) @125. Hyperspeedy big hitter, Defender, anti-Stealth, plus Outwit pog.
Monica Rambeau (Empyre 041) @ 50. Range sniper and esp. Leadership.
Maggott (House of X 050). Prob Control and Eany/Meany alpha striker.
The Watcher (Disney Plus 101b) 40. TK, Defend and Outwit
Teen Lantern (Wonder Woman 80th Anniversary 035) @ 30. Mega taxi, free mini Barrier, Prob and, with Pumpkin Bombs, an attack role.
Emotional Modifier 10. Vital anti-Thanos tech
Pumpkin Bombs 5. For Teen Lantern.
= 300 POINTS OF BLACK CHARACTERS FOR ALL-BLACK-EVERYTHING SQUAD.
Round 1 I lost to a Thanos + Collector + Molecule Man + something else I can’t recall build in Round 1 on my Void map. I was always going to be at a disadvantage in this matchup, especially since this was before Thanos’ big errata. (He’d already gotten his Mind Gem errata.) But a fielder’s choice move on my part put me on my back foot almost immediately: Wanting to get in better position for attacks, I Sidestepped Maggott away from the squad and didn’t move Cap with him. But I’d overlooked the damage boost Thanos got from Collector and because Mag lost the Toughness from Cap, he was one-shot. That left me without the extra firepower I needed when, later, I easily broke the Barrier that Thanos hid behind and brought him to my team to pounce upon DESPITE his use of Doom’s Time Platform to try to escape Cap.
At least I scored the Time Platform! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Round 2: I faced the following X-men swap force on Otherworld:
Venom Magneto 35
Jubilee (House of X 054) 50
Venom Wolverine 75
Deadpool (X of Swords 048) 40
Cypher (X of Swords 002) 25
Hope Summers (X of Swords 052) 40
Multiple Man (Rise & Fall) x3 10
Lockheed and Jonathan pogs
This was a foreboding match, because that Jubilee has great advantages on that map. But this time, everything went right for me.
- My opponent made a minor error, not placing Deadpool in the center of his formation.
- That freed me to try being aggressive instead of just waiting for the Jubilee assault or needing to equip the Emotional Modifier (which was really just anti-Thanos tech tbh)
- And here’s how one small change can make a big difference: After a playtest match ahead of Worlds, I got the idea of equipping Teen Lantern with the Pumpkin Bombs, giving her Energy Explosion and the ability to smash walls like Barrier. That latter skill had already paid off in the previous match vs. Thanos; this time it was the EE that showed its worth.
- Between all my force landing most of their attacks, I scored KOs of Wolvie, Mags, the pogs and at least a pair of Multiple Men for a decisive victory.
Got my one win in Worlds with this F.U.N. Black team — BUCKET LIST ITEM CHECKED. I dropped and went to do the next thing:
FIFTH THING: X of Swords Organized Play Worlds Event
This was an event where all three Months are played in a row.
First pod was F.U.N.! I drafted Captain Britain and managed a 2nd place win to walk away with her.
Second pod was wack; none of us opened a single SR. But I won a Mojo prize.
Third pod slipped away from me. I really wanted that Pestilence SR! But I placed high enough overall on the leaderboard to get the Genesis grand prize I wanted.
SIXTH THING: Pauper
I’d also wanted to go All Black Everything in this format, but the team was too weak. So I did this instead:
Blade (War of the Realms 013)
T’Challa Star-Lord (Disney Plus 025) @100
Skinny Steve Rogers (Disney Plus 002)
Storm (X of Swords 001)
Summoner (X of Swords 110b)
The Watcher (Disney Plus 101b)
= 300 points of PAUPER (almost) ALL-BLACK EVERYTHING
Round 1 was vs Dennis, a Mexican player (whose teammate went all the way to winning Worlds!) fielding Jean, Cyclops, Magik, Peepers x2, Roulette, Danger Room Mystique, Cypher and Dazzler. I had the worst luck, rolling snakes on a T’Challa PW and missing a needed Flurry with Blade later — both attacks that would have turned the game well in my favor against a strong opponent.
Round 2 I faced a GOTG theme of THREE Novas and Rocket Raccoon and one other I can’t recall on my Aunt Petunia map. The Novas put me on my heels fast, but Summoner’s ranged Poison turned the tables, scoring me the needed KOs.
Round 3, though, was my first-ever actual match against Phoenix Nest leader, ROC Hall of Famer and longtime long-distance clix pal Edward Shelton! We had a great time and I learned a lot just playing him, even as I dealt him a loss (though he’d decided to play aggro because we were both out of the running to win it all and it was time to have F.U.N. instead of him Barriering up). He surprised me with an easy one-shot of Summoner while I got him with Storm’s directional FREE knock back skills.
Afterward, he convinced me into swapping in a character so I could rebuild my pauper team into an All Black Everything version after all. But that’s a future post.
——
And that there is a summarized version of my Worlds 2022 trip. I had a blast and am definitely considering a return this year in 2023. Regarding that: This spring, WizKids announced it’s not doing its annual rotation of sets from Modern until after Worlds this year! So mayyyybe that means I might try out that All Black Everything team again — this time for a REAL run at a championship.
That would require a LOT MORE practice on my part. *ponders*