Tourney Results

[gameplan.exe]

I apologize for missing last night's deadline. I had plans for this evening with my family, but due to a schedule shift at work, everything got moved to last night, and since I had to work early today, there was no time for a game after returning home at 11p.m.  I should be floating around tonight if anyone's looking for a game.

No problem, man! In my tier list, Family > Overpower every time! 

Having said that, I'd like to play you. we were the last game for the round robin, I think. If I can manage a win, that will give me a winning record and a better one than drdeath25 (small consolation, since he beat me head-to-head). I'll look for you after my dinner, hopefully I can catch you 

Now, on to the recap w/Onslaught!

hand 1
Best Laid Plans... (this was, perhaps, the worst thing for this matchup...)
I discarded 1 // He discarded 0
He placed 3 // I placed 4 (including 2 to Colossus, should've had more foresight)
He ventured 2 // I ventured 1 and concede
me: 0-6-1, him: 2-5-0

Hand 2
KO EVENT - (I'd completely forgotten he used this Event) X-Babies and Colossus
I only discarded 1 // He discarded 1
He placed 3 // I placed 5
He ventures 2 // I venture 1 --- I def' should've conceded the hand here!
he plays 3S ally on ShadowC, landed
followed by IA from WQu, landed - So, basically, I played this hand to lose my HQ
I concede - D'oh!
me 0-5-2, him 4-3-0

Hand 3
He discarded 3 - JW, Beast, and 4M
I discard only a Colossus AC
he places 0, I place Cat Claws to ShadowC
He ventures 3FTW, I draw 5I
I venture 2
He plays 4E AA on ShadowC, blocked w/4I
followed by 4GJ on Shadowcat, landed,
followed by 3I JW on Shadowcat, blocked w/3I - and no follow up!
I played my ASPECT                --- maybe I should've played her 5F first?
he plays 8E TW on Shadowcat, landed KO
followed by 4M on Cap B, landed
I play Leech-Eng on Mag, blocked w/Acrobatics --- at least I got his Beast out
he plays 6E AR on Capt'B, landed
Cap'B is 1 hit away from KO, so I play Pym Parts on ProfX
he plays 6I AN on CaptB, landed KO
I play AV on Beyonder, landed
He plays BS'6A CC on Prof, blocked w/6I - drew ShadowC AD, discarded
I play 1I PC on Beyonder, landed
He passes
I play 5I on White Queen, landed
He passes
I play New Universe --- this was a small reprieve. I should've played it sooner, and kept the 6I PC placed to Prof for the next hand.
me: 0-5-2, him: 4-3-0

Hand 4
We each draw 10
He discarded 0 // I discarded 5
He ventures 3 FTW - I didn't write down my draw, but it didn't help.
he plays A-Next on Prof, landed  --- --- no follow up...?
I play BG
he plays 3F ally on Prof, landed
followed by 7A on Prof, landed
I play A-Next on Beyonder, landed
followed by 4EAA on Beyonder, landed KO        ------- my only consolation
followed by 8E PC on WQueen, blocked w/BS'DY' of my placed AG - d'oh!
he plays 6E PC on ProfX, blocked w/AG
I play 7A+3BU on WQueen, landed
he plays 8E on Prof, landed KO

he wins.

It was a very quick game. My deck needs to get to the Power Pack. I started losing people faster than my defense was coming. Since most of my defense comes from character-specific Special cards, I knew that losing characters to KO was going to hurt too much, too quickly. It was a chain reaction, from a chaining deck.

Well played, Onslaught.

---------------------------------------
My overall review of my showing in the tournament:
I still need to play demacus, but if I win I'll end 5-4 and I'll very much consider my deck a success. It was a "highlander" deck, which I called OPD Challenge here: http://www.beenhereandthere.com/SMF/index.php?topic=331.0

The following are some things I learned from playing with it in such a varied field of competition:

1. About that Event... Best Laid Plans... indeed. As often as not, this backfired. It's nice to get to the Aspect and Pym Parts quicker, even the Book Of The Darkhold, but ultimately, reaching the Power Pack is my top priority with this deck. There are definitely other Events to help that more, I think.

2. Also, losing a character early can start a domino effect that devastates my deck. Again, there are other Events to help that.

3. Speaking of KOs, if I have to make a choice (as with my game w/Onslaught), I think Shadowcat must die first. She's a max-6, but more importantly, Colossus provides better defense to teammates. He has an LO, but he also has the AC/AG combination. Plus, with his Inherent Ability, there is some opportunity for him to simply take a hit, too.

4. Having Professor X alive into the Power Pack is my surest course to victory. I was a little surprised at how often he was not targetted.

5. It was very nice to never, ever draw duplicates. It didn't always help, because my 8 cards were often still weaker than my opponent's 6, but it was still fun watching them drop card after card, while I kept my hands full.

6. Once I was in the Power Pack, this particular line up (thanks to the Inherent and Aspect), allowed me to always have card advantage in the Power Pack. That made Pym Particles particularly important, getting there that much quicker and picking up no duplicates along the way.

7. Ultimately, it was really fun to use a deck concept that took so much flack, and succeed, even marginally. Despite losing games to both drdeath25 and Onslaught, my most common antagonists, I hope I still exceeded their expectations for a highlander deck 

[Oscorp]

Thanks for the tourney re-cap Ncan!  I plan on writing a similar one after I'm all done as well.   And it was great to see an original deck idea do so well.  Better luck next time!

[breadmaster]

so since we have some time before the next round gets going, i thought i'd post the teams

bbh: xbabies/morbius/ghost rider/spider-woman krakoa
bios: xbabies/spawn/nightcrawler/ray anys
breadmaster: puppet master/captain mar-vell/dark beast/dr.strange anys
drd: heroes for hire/spawn/x-man/silver sable anys
kyle: donald pierce/beta ray bill/dark beast/callisto hell's kitchen
demacus: black cat/domino/storm/zealot anys
oscorp: dazzler/teamx/maverick/sabretooth anys
nate: sentinels/heroes for hire/beast: the brute/thing hell's kitchen
ncannelora: shadowcat/profx/colossus/captain britain anys
onslaught: beyonder/white queen/xbabies/magneto age of apocalypse

out of 40 characters, 30 were unique.

the dupes: 3 xbabies, 3 beasts (2 dark, 1 brute), 2 spawns, 2 heroes for hire

with respect to sites/anys: 6 used any-heroes, 4 sites (2 hells kitchens, 1 krakoa, 1 AoA)

all 10 reserves were different (this has to be a rare occurence with respect to overpower tourneys) and noone used hawkeye

of the 4 teams to advance, there are 14 unique characters (xbabies duped).  2 used sites, and 2 used anys.

[NickW]

This is all good to have cleared up. Because, as I said, it was very clearly explained to me the opposite way (and even ruled on in tournaments that way) hence my interpretation of it.

It made sense too, that cards with no deliberate 'target' had nowhere to go (short of flinging them at the actual opposing player  ) so they generated their effect from my side.

The 'target opponent' wording was I believed all cleared up, every instance of it clearly means target, so there's no real confusion.

Since I have you - I am curious on your take on two other issues that have come up:

First: I am curious on another small matter regarding a 'Marvels' card and the usage of 'opponent.'

If, as you say any card that affect the 'opponent' is only usable as an attack, how come Invisible Woman's 'Conceal' is usable defensively according to lists? Was that an oversight? It does not conform to any standard of defensive actions (I know Marvels weren't 'official' but many of us use them because they're just so much fun!)

Second: Regarding BA coded specials such as Captain America's 'Super Soldier' or Red Skull's 'Evil Super Soldier' which can only be defended by the listed specific type of card.

Meta rule #44 stipulates that : When a card specifies what cards may (or may not) be used to defend it, this includes ALL cards used in the defense.

So, if i can only defend a card with a special - I cannot use a power card boosted by a special, because the power card is not a special, even if the special is part of the defense. This is clear. Likewise, no universe, tactic etc.

Likewise with a JW or JZ (not be defended with specials) I can't use a special to shift an attack to block with a power card, because the special played in response to shift (even though a shift is not a defense) because all cards played 'in response' must meet the specifications.

Now the question - If the attack can only be defended by a special, am I allowed to use an Activator to stop it?  If ALL cards played in the defense must meet the specification, that should  mean the activator is not valid.

Is this true?

-BBH

If an Admin would like to move this side discussion to a more appropriate sub-forum, be my guest.

Invisible Woman -
I would not classify her Marvels card as an attack.  It has the word Opponent in the game text, but that is only to describe what the opponent can or can not do.  In this case, the opponent cannot do anything to Invisible Woman's team's placed cards.  But it is not affecting the opponent, it is affecting her own team's placed cards, which then prevents the opponent from being able to manipulate them.  It is not a direct attack at her opponent, it is a protection placed on her own cards.  Hence, the name of the card, Conceal.  From an editorial point of view, she is using her powers to conceal something from the opponent, as opposed to making her opponent blind.
This is also why it can be used defensively, but only against an attack by the opponent that would manipulate her team's placed cards.  You cannot play it as a defensive action to an unrelated and unaffected attack, to save you the hassle of playing it offensively on your turn.

BA specials -
I would have to say playing an Activator would not be allowed if the card says that it can only be defended by a Special card.  The Activator would be considered part of the defense and is not a special card.
This is one of the unfortunate gray areas of OP, since Activators were, as far as I know, not even a potential idea when this type of special was created for the original release.  But, since these specials are not that common or powerful, perhaps they deserve that extra boost that you cannot defend with an Activator.  Time it right, and it could be a well played final power type for a Spectrum KO.  More power to it...

[gameplan.exe]

I apologize for missing last night's deadline. I had plans for this evening with my family, but due to a schedule shift at work, everything got moved to last night, and since I had to work early today, there was no time for a game after returning home at 11p.m.  I should be floating around tonight if anyone's looking for a game.

Hey, i'd still like to get this game in if/when we can. drop me a line 

@ Breadmaster - when are you guys gonna play out the Final Four?

[breadmaster]

oscorp and onslaught have to play a tiebreaker to determine the 4 seed (who plays bbh).  onslaught is busy with comicon, so it'll be a while

once they play their game though, i'm guessing a day or 2 till it's finished...

[Oscorp]

Onslaught if you are back I would love to get our game in tonight.  I am heading away from the computer for the August long weekend.  Let me know.  I will stay on Hamachi for most of the evening.

[breadmaster]

i had contact with onslaught earlier today

he said that the earliest he'll be available is next tuesday.

[Oscorp]

sounds fine to me.  I will be back from my adventures by then as well.

I didn't want to be the cause of any further hold ups on getting this thing done is all.

[BigBadHarve]

Just let me know when I'm up, and I'll be here.

It bears repeating that I really liked the Round Robin format for the main rounds. Playing online certainly allows us that option where a live tournament is obviously more restricted on time.

Hopefully for the next one we can get even more players. The sheer variety was fun and interesting too - Breadman's report on the team breakdowns was great. Not as much duplication as one would have expected, especially in the reserve hero department.

On a personal note, I'm very pleased with the performance of my little team. It should be noted that despite my record, I wouldn't exactly call my matches a massive 'roll over.' Most everyone put up a good fight. Still, I'm tempted to take the Trick or Treater's into the live tournament next month. Just to see what happens.

Cheers all!

-BBH

[gameplan.exe]

On a personal note, I'm very pleased with the performance of my little team. It should be noted that despite my record, I wouldn't exactly call my matches a massive 'roll over.' Most everyone put up a good fight. Still, I'm tempted to take the Trick or Treater's into the live tournament next month. Just to see what happens.

Cheers all!

-BBH

he has to say "Most everyone put up a good fight." because my match was pretty hopeless from the start 

[BigBadHarve]

he has to say "Most everyone put up a good fight." because my match was pretty hopeless from the start 

Hardly! You and I had quite the brawl, from what I recollect. I look forward to your revenge in the future! 

-BBH

[Oscorp]

Looking for Onslaught.   I'm free all evening tonight and all morning tomorrow and most evenings this week.  Let me know when a good time to get a game in is for you and I will try to be on Hamachi at that time!   Looking to wrap this tourney up so that Bread can work on running another.

[gameplan.exe]

Apparently, I needed humbling - I lost a very, very poorly drawn game vs. Demacus, giving him his only W of the tournament 

I don't want to take anything away from his game - he played well - but the timing of his Events was straight ASTOUNDING! seriously, the NoVenture NoConcede, and the No OPD were truly devastating!

Anyway, good game, Demacus.

ncannelora: 4-5

[drdeath25]

Congrats to Demascus! Anyone who plays the "No OPD" event with a any-hero deck has serious balls. Glad to see him win, respect his deck alot.

I think we need to do a tie-breaker for 5th between me, bios and ncann because I really don't want to be remembered as on his level at this tournament.