On Sunday I played the Charge team in a two-round tourney. First was first-timer Andrew, who could only play his entire collection:

R Anaconda
E Sidewinder
R Drax the Destroyer
R Skrull (Clobberin’ Time)
R Rhino (Critical Mass)
Starter Spider-Man
Starter Wasp
Starter Hobgoblin
Starter Elektra
Starter Wolverine
Starter Sabertooth
R Toad
R Tessa
R Crimson Dynamo (XPlosion)
E Bulldozer
R Juggernaut (Infinity Challenge)
(and more such small fry I’m probably forgetting)

and some pieces Paul loaned him:

U Black King
LE Shazam
U Darkseid (Hypertime)
E Batman (Icons)
R Dr. Mid-Nite
U Nightmare

I picked the Danger Room outdoor map for its simplicity and coached Andrew through most of his (many, MANY) moves. For my part, I marched my folks right up, dropping Omega Red in front so that Andrew could make some attack rolls. Andrew took my recommended shots at Omega Red, landing nearly all and actually KOing him. And I suddenly found myself with no time to get the points back, only taking Toad. So I lose to the first-timer! Not the first time THAT’S ever happened.

Second round, I played against Conrad’s (another once-first-timer who beat me long ago) Impervious team:

Norrin Radd
LE Nova (Critical Mass)
LE Superman (Collateral Damage)
Trigon
The Mighty Thor
Ganthet
Colossus (Mutations + Monsters)
The Joker (Justice League)

Conrad unwisely put Superman outside of hindering terrain, fairly daring me to attack. I suppose he wanted to get hit to better clicks. I obliged and then tied him up with Ben Grimm and Karnak.

For my part, I unwisely Taxied Bronze Tiger within range of Norrin Radd, who didn’t miss. I left him there, lest Zauriel (who was much more central to my game) take fire. Ganthet opened fire and that was it for Tiger as Conrad took early points. 

I still had Superman tangled, though. Karnak pushed to hit him, then Power Man & Iron Fist Charged off the roof to Exploit Weakness him for a solid 5 clicks more. This landed Superman on his Hypersonic click, and that’s when I knew I had him. Spectre flew up to drop Omega Red between Superman and Joker. Superman had a token and couldn’t push without dying and Omega Red had Armor Piercing and Poison.

With Superman gone, I had the lead and a suddenly un-based Power Man & Iron Fist. I pushed (no damage thanks to Indomitable) and Charged them at Mighty Thor (who was also based by Spectre now) to score another hard hit via Exploit Weakness. But this landed Thor on Flurry, which would be bad news later. It also isolated the duo from the protection of Defending teammates, opening them to taking much damage.

Omega Red continued Poisoning and hitting Joker…unfortunately landing the clown on his best click: 12 AV, 19 DV!!!!!!! He began hitting Omega, bypassing the Poison threat. Norrin Radd, too, kept scoring hits on Spectre, who sadly failed his one shot at Thor with his terrifying “Vengeance” power (which would have allowed Spectre to deal 4 clicks of penetrating damage)!

Worse yet, I completely forgot about Automatic Regeneration on Spectre, or that he had Outwit. My one chance at healing him gone, Spectre was Flurried by Thor, then finished off by yet another 5-damage cannonblast from Ganthet.

On the other side of the fight, Black Adam had tied up Trigon to prevent any Psychic Blasts from the big red giant. Trigon hit him hard with Flurry, dealing knockback (Adam having lost Charge) and forcing Adam to fly back in base. I decided to push him, using Giant-Man’s and his own Perplex to boost his damage to 5, and Flurry the Impervious-free Trigon (thanks to Steel’s Outwit). Hit both attacks for 6 total damage, even though it cost Adam 3 himself (pushing and two Mystic backlashes). Steel followed with a 4 shot to land Trigon on his final click. 

So it was all up to Zauriel now…10 attack value to Trigon’s 18 defense. Countered the big bad’s Impervious with Gamora and rolled…

…a hit. How appropriate that the angel beat a devil.

Although Conrad had one more turn as time expired, all his remaining team was pushed and I claimed the victory. 

 

Keys to victory:

Armor Piercing on Omega Red

Spectre. Although he was my big casualty, his ability to taxi O.Red was a clutch moment. I wish I’d played him a lot smarter, though. 

Giant-Man. His Perplex was sorely needed when I used it.