DEMONPIT, ME14

Change of Blog

maidstonedemon — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 17:43:59 +0000

OK, so I haven’t been bloging

Gary hasn’t been blogging

Guys on other blogs have slowed up no end

It is with this in mind that the Demonpit guys (Gary and myself) are teaming up with other UK Vs players to make a combined blog. With 5-6 others already on board and hopefully more to come we are looking to put out daily articles. With a smaller workload required from each guy and a few articles in the ‘bank’ so to speak, this shouldn’t prove too difficult.

I’m committed to two per week, one article and one rond up of the Maidstone tournaments (including decklists)

The site, which will be called The British Initiative, should go live on the 1st of July.

Can I just extend thanks to Chris ‘Gdaybloke’ Miller for the great banner design for the new site.

So I guess this is a farewell from the Demonpit, hope to see you at THE BRITISH INITIATIVE.

Retro Netdecking

maidstonedemon — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 23:01:18 +0000

I’ve been kind of stuck for time recently, therefore pretty much unable to Blog, design decks, playtest, in fact apart from our weekly event I’ve done absolutely nothing versus wise.

However what I have been doing is going all retro. With literally minutes to spare before our weekly events I’ve netdecked old classics to play in our Golden events. Although these decks were strong when they were ev vogue, there a little outmoded now to compete in a serious GA event, but in our casual get togethers they do just fine. They also provide an insight to our players to some really cool cards they’ve may have missed due to the fact they’ve all been playing less than a year. This isn’t to say they haven’t got these cards, they may just have been overlooked.

First up, as mentioned in my previous Blog was I’m back Poozers, which introduced a number of players to the little gem that is Cover Fire. Big attacks, down curve, on turns 5 and 6 were thwarted with this card, in the two events in which it saw light of day. I’m sure some of the players will now return the favour in creations they make in the future.

Second up was Paul Races’ Deadly Tactics which posted a top 8 finish in the 10K Bognor Regis. In that particular event I had the misfortune of playing against that deck in round 4. At the time I hadn’t encontered it before and was quite pleased to be receiving cards from his Win-Lose Deals, especially as I was playing GK/SF, a deck reliant on negation and then discarding to Spidey on 7. This obviously was turned upside down on turn 6 when he called Fizzle with a Null Time Zone and after some shannanigans swung for 144 with Melissa. The deck fared well, although I did lose a great game to Amy in round 2.
I’m pretty sure that I’ll see Team Tactics in opposing lists in the future, especially being as none of my opponents had seen it before, yet were hellishly impressed by its effect.

Next up was this weeks event, where I ran Gary’s League of Assassins deck from his Quintessentially Quiky article which can be found here. Managing a 4-0 record the deck proved somewhat effective. Dual Nature and Tower of Babel proving the stars of the day, especially against Thunderbolts and Kree.

I feel a little guilty taking decks to an event that I’ve not created myself. However they aren’t overpowered, are most definitely fun to play and hopefully have provided the guys with food for thought for future decks. Next week I’m digging out one of my old favourites Bats and Spiders.

I’m Back, Poozers!

maidstonedemon — Wed, 21 May 2008 23:37:03 +0000

To say that my Blog has been somewhat neglected recently would be somewhat of an understatement. So the heading is somewhat apt for that reason but also because the addition of the DCX card was the main change in my GLC deck from the version played at the UK Nationals.

Traditionally our GDI (Grinning Demon Invitational) events are Golden Age events with the unwritten rule of no broken decks allowed. However this week, just to mix things up, we had settled on running a Golden Age Random Punks event, akin to the one held in Luton over the weekend. To be honest, this meant very few changes for my GLC deck as it was only Oa, Sinestro (6), Two-Face and Anti-Monitor that were lost so I concentrated on the off-curve aspect of the deck, changed out helping hands for Cover Fire’s and Guardians Reborn for the excellent Welcome Back Poozers. My eventual decklist looked like this……

2 Arisia, Green Lantern of Graxos IV
1 Brik, Green Lantern of Dryad
2 Salakk, Green Lantern of Slyggia
2 G’Nort, Green Lantern of G’Newt
1 Sonar, Dastardly Discord
4 Kyle Raynor, Last Green Lantern
3 Olapet, Green Lantern of Southern Goldstar
1 Tomar Tu, Green Lantern of Xudar
1 Black Hand, Dark-Hearted Villain
2 Hal Jordan, Green Lantern of Earth
1 Kreon, Green Lantern of Tebis
1Ch’p, Green Lantern of H’lven
1 Rot Lop Fan, F-Sharp Bell of the Obsidian Deeps
1 Malvolio, Lord of the Green Flame
1 Katma Tui, Green Lantern of Korugar
1 Guy Gardner, Strong Arm of the Corps
1 Remoni-Notra<>Star Sapphire, Obsessed Warrior Princess
1 Boodikka, Green Lantern of Bellatrix
1 Alan Scott, Keeper of the Starheart

3 Birthing Chamber
2 Book of Oa

2 Battle of Wills
4 Cover Fire
2 Guardians Reborn
3 I’m Back, Poozers
3 No Man Escapes the Manhunters
2 Rain of Acorns
1 Sweeping Up
4 The Ring has Chosen
2 Uppercut

1 Catchers Mitt
1 Chopping Block
2 Green Lantern Ring
1 Light Armor

We had a smaller than expected turnout this week as neither Vince, Ben nor Jack made it up, so we had just the seven players. Entrants were punched into Mantis and I got paired up with Wayne for round 1.

Round 1 vs Wayne Hepworth (Brotherhood Reservist)
Waynes deck didn’t lose a huge amount by switching to Random Punks apart from a couple of top end characters. This is a deck he has played for a while now with considerable success so I was apprehensive at the outset but had a good opening hand so went with it.
I played G’Nort, Tomar Tu and Hal over the first three turns, whereas Wayne missed on 1, Crimson Commando on 2 and Rem Ram and Chrome on 3. However as I had dropped a Chopping Block on Gnort on turn 2 we went into turn 4 with my board consisting of all three of my recruits whereas Wayne had nothing.
From this point onwards I ran into difficulties, underdropping Kyle on 4 along with a Light Armor on Hal and a catchers Mitt on Kyle. Wayne hit Anne Marie Cortez who swung into Tomar Tu, only for Kyle to do Rem Ram and Hal do Anne MArie. The chop block followed, my board remained at 3, Wayne was down to a clear board again. I had the initiative on five and recruited nobody, now I was beginning to worry. Wayne, surprisingly, went on curve again, meaning a team attack and a chop block lef the board 3 characters plays 1 once again after Polaris had been ‘blocked’. Turn 6 saw the dangerous Harry Delgado hit the table, I had the, not so dangerous, Sonar. I took a beating from Waynes one attack as he hit Sonar with Harrys effect plus a Wondagore activation plus a Kill the Flatscans. Kyle and Hal saw the back of Harry as the chop block did its job once more.
Going into turn 7 with the initiative, any mid range character would have done the job. I however hit nothing, whereas Wayne was able to fetch Fabian Cortez with a Sovereign Superior. With No Man’s available to me though, once again the two GL’s of earth teamed up taking down their bigger foe with Gnort on sweep up duty with the Chop.
Turn 8 and I was getting worried, an 8-drop would have done for me, but Harry Delgado was all that Wayne could muster. I dropped Arisia and Salakk, enabling a birthing chamber, which drew me a game winning Cover Fire. Harry swung into Kyle with his effect activated, but with two Cover Fires now at my disposal for a +16 increase in DEF thus the attack bounced. With a full board benefitting from Arisias effect the final few points were knocked off Waynes END total and the game was secured.

Its not very often that you bag a win utilising only 5 of your 30 possible resource points over turns 4 through 8. I genuinely believe that if Wayne had gone a couple of turns off curve he would have won, but his inflexibility with regards his strategy seemed somewhat flawed in adapting to my lack of drops.
1-0

Game 2 vs Amy Chizlett (Faces of Evil + Avengers)
T1 - Me = Nothing, Amy = Beetle
T2 - Amy = Beast (getting a team up), Nathan Garrett, Me = Tomar Tu
T3 - Me = Ring for Olapet, play Olly boosted getting Gnort
Amy = Mystic Summons for Captain America

A good combat phase for me. Tomar Tu swung into Captain A getting a mutual stun. Olly did for Nathan Garrett and then after a I’m Back, Poozers! G’Nort did for Beast. Amy’s board reduced to just Cpt. America, me with three dudes.

T4 - Amy = Joystick and Marcus Daniels, Me = Rot Lop Fan
My least favourite option at 4 but good for this situation as she couldn’t get at him. Amy swung Marcus into Tomar Tu, I responded with a Cover Fire, an action nullified by a Call to Arms in response. Tomar Tu stuns, only to be recovered by a Guardians Reborn. Captain A puts down Tomar Tu for the second time in the turn. Joystick then did for G’Nort.

T5 - Me = Kyle getting a block, G’Nort, Salakk, dropping the Chop Block on G’nort
Amy = Wasp

With Amy underdropping I was in the drivers seat. Rot Lop Fan Attacked into Cpt.A. Amy, wanting to mutual stun discarded Paul Ebersol, to which I replied with a Battle of Wills. Kyle did for Wasp. Olly and Salakk took down Marcus who had used his effect in the build phase. Then Tomar Tu attacked joystick, getting a mutual stun. A chop block activation saw the back of Wasp and I maintained a man advantage losing just a Tomar Tu.

With Amy just hitting Melissa Gold on turn 6 whereas I was able to ring for a Katma the game was pretty much over despite Cpt A doing for Kyle and Melissa taking down Katma with a Mega Blast and Flying Kick. 10 END was gained off Katmas effect before she went down and the block was once again effective, taking out Songbird. Turn 7 saw us both playing top deck Vs. I drew Arisia, Amy drew nothing. Cpt.A became the latest name on the chop block Roll of Honor and we went to turn 8. With no board and drawing into nothing Amy offered her hand in resignation.
2-0

Round 3 vs James Warrener (Cosmic Legionnaires)
The Legion of Superheroes. A seriously good read whilst Dan Abnett was writing it (and I’m not just saying that because he comes in the shop), however, my least favourite team with regards Vs. I got off to an early lead, dropping Gnort, Kyle, Olapet and Salakk over the first three turns, compared to a Apparition and Babs, both concealed for James. My chopblocking on turn 4 was thwarted by a Foiled Assassination, but was effective on turns 5 and 6, each time taking down his three drops and turn 7 saw multiple uses of my Rain of Acorns. The final scores at the end of turn 7 after I protected Alan Scott with a Cover Fire, gaining +14 DEF were 20 to -2. The game was closer than that but I always felt in control whilst G’Nort and Arisia were present, despite recruiting nothing on turn 6 which almost let him back into the game.
3-0

Round 4 vs Andrew Palmer (UW/Kree/Skrull)
To say Andys deck lacks focus is an understatement. It trys to do too many things and ends up doing nothing. The game ended on turn 5 but effectively was over when I chop blocked Wolverine on turn 3. Turn 4 saw Cover Fire bouncing an attack by Morlun into Olapet. Then I got to swing back into a board of 1 New Blood. Despite a What are Friends for it wasn’t pretty for Andy. The following turn I recruited Guy Gardner with a Lantern Ring, utilising him to attack Shathra after using a No Man escapes the Manhunters. Andy conceded at the end of turn 5 with the scores at 42-3.

Game 5 vs David Moakes (SS/JLA)
An interesting build from Dave which suffered in this match for the lack of a team up. He hit curve 1 through 5, yet suffered, as did all my opponents, at the hands of the chop block. The game was sealed when Katma Tui bumped my life on turn 6 and a Cover Fire bounced an attack. Although we went to turn 8 I had stolen one against the head, considering I missed a couple of drops. I also had Kreon with a Lantern Ring just in case he bagged a team up late game.
5-0

The deck performed pretty well, which was a relief after recent weeks dissappoinments, but as we all found running Random Punks does take away search options. I’d definitely drop an Uppercut in exchange for a Emerald Dawn if I ran this deck again.

I started a joke!

maidstonedemon — Sat, 03 May 2008 11:26:07 +0000

First up an apology for the lack of posts on this blog over recent weeks. Work and family commitments have pretty much kept me away from Vs and the PC so I’ve not had much to share with anyone anyway.

However just a quick mention about a deck I ran recently at our Maidstone Monthly. Our monthly event is a Golden Age event with a mutual understanding that nobody plays the ‘broken’ netdecks that are kicking around. The week prior to this I had been mucking about with a Joker legend legal deck, running the Hatter/Ivy combo if I got evens or Ivy and Charaxes if I got odds, following this up with an assortment of Jokers and Scarecrows. The deck performed well going 3-0, although two of the opponents were running equally janky decklists.

Having enjoyed playing the deck I decided to modify it for our GA event, and after replacing a number of the cards was happy that it would be competitive although not dominant. What I didn’t account for was the fact that despite 6 search cards I’d miss drops regularly throughout the tournament and finish with my worst performance in 18 months, going 2-2, finishing 7th in a field of 9. Ouch! However on a happy note Cameron, who was well on his way to establishing himself as the worst player in the uk according to the UDE ratings succeeded in bagging 3rd place with a 3-1 record including a win over me in the fourth round.

So as the BeeGees would have sung, ”I started a Joke, but the joke was on me!”

Quintessentially Quirky - When Worlds Collide

maidstonedemon — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 06:24:39 +0000

Quintessentially Quirky – When Worlds Collide

Back in November, the UK had a series of Silver Age Elite Series tournaments dotted around the country. Myself and fellow London based VS enthusiast Amit (aka Amitverse on various forums) decided that the opportunity to play in some official tournaments was too good to pass up and vowed to attend as many as possible. An endeavour aided by the fact that they were all scheduled for different days across a 3 week period. There were 5 to attend, and I really wanted to test a selection of the decks that I had been toying with over the previous months.So I started making up a list of the decks I wanted to use. At the first one, I went with a Villains United team up version of the Jugg/Mags deck I used at the recent UK Nationals. It bombed slightly and I finished with a 2-2 record and 4^th place out of 5.

However, my love of Juggernaught had been re-affirmed. So when we were heading to Sheffield for the next tournament I knew I wanted to use the big guy again. As it was a Silver age Legend format, I also wanted to feature my favourite DC legend Darkseid. When I realised that they both wanted to break people’s resources I decided that it was something worth looking at. So I present to you the big two.

Darkseid/Juggernaught Legend Deck – When Worlds Collide!

Characters: 29

2 Drops: 7

4x Malice Vunderbar

The deck wants to reach the late game, and this girl has a good defence and a resource busting effect. What is not to love?

3x Dark Manhunter

Substitute in for an un-stunnable attacker. Flight, Range and a solid ability make this a decent card.

3 Drops: 7

4x Juggernaught

Ok, so the downside is a pain. But he has big stats and enables the later game plays. So that has to be a good thing.

3x Dark Firestorm

Another strong substitute card, that maintains hand size and can get the low drop out of the way to avoid replacement on turn 5.

4 Drops: 4

4x Darkseid – Apokoliptian Oppressor

More big defence and a great card draw ability.

5 Drops: 6

4x Juggernaught

He has solid stats and an ability that works excellently in conjunction with the resource control theme of Darkseid Elite. (4 copies to meet the Juggernaught Legend requirement)

1x Dark Superboy

I needed a Substitute Character to replace out Juggernaught and if I have just re-set their resource row, this guy is powerful on turn 6. On or Off initiative.

1x Darkseid – 8^th Century

Another Substitute character and one that benefits from the other support cards in the deck. It also counts towards the Darkseid Legend count.

6 Drops: 2

1x Dark Kryptonian.

The deck has two potential game plans. Option 1 is for dealing with short curve combat decks. Jump to turn 8 and own them with a scary 8 drop. Option 2 is for late game stall decks, and for that see the 7 drop.

1x Darkseid – Omega

This guy has decent stats, a potentially useful effect and is called Darkseid. A triple whammy of good stuff.

7 Drops: 2

2x Juggernaught – Weapon of Mass Destruction

There are few cards better at stopping stall decks from winning the game than this one. Decks designed to hit turn 8 or 9 will often scoop when this effect goes off.

8 Drops: 1

1x Darkseid – Nemesis

A fearsome 8 drop that definitely ends the game if Juggernaught has started to whittle down their resources. He can simply remove any remaining 7 drops from the game, providing that you are able to bypass the uniqueness on Darkseid.

Equipment: 2

2x Juggernaught’s Helmet

See my article about the Juggernaught/Magneto deck. This card is awesome!

Locations: 6

3x Dark Matter Drain

Keeping those key locations and plot twists face down in the early game is extremely useful.

3x Ancient Throne

This card allows you to put multiple Darkseids in to play and re-use key plot twists.

Plot Twists: 23

4x Enemy of my Enemy

Useful for hitting that key character on most drops. This is the standard search card for any deck featuring multiple teams.

4x Created from Hate

One of the better team-stamped search cards in the game. This card allows you to hit those all important Darkseids

4x No Match for Darkseid

An awesome defensive card when the visible defender is named Darkseid. Especially if they are looking for a lot of breakthrough from the attack.

3x Insignificant Threat

This card can end games. In the tournament I actually played in, this card won me two games. If they don’t play around it, and as I only team-up at the last moment they rarely see it coming, then this is a nasty surprise.

4x Price of Treason

Defensive attack pumps that draw you cards are good. It is not as consistent as Nasty Surprise, but potentially just as useful.

4x Flying Kick

One of the great attack pumps in the game, and I don’t have much flight in the deck.

This was a resource hating deck that looked to stall out combat decks and simply stop stall decks getting to turns 8 & 9. It went 2-1 on the day. Beating a Punisher deck and another Darkseid deck, but losing to a short curve Brotherhood deck that managed to hit something like 3 Savage Beatdowns and several Flying Kicks on turn 5. (Didn’t have either Insignificant Threat or No Match for Darkseid that would have kept me in the game.)

If I was to update the deck for the new Silver Age, then I would only change a couple of things. (Assuming that I didn’t need to hit the Legend Status on Juggernaught)

-4 Juggernaught 3 drop

+1 Dark Firestorm

+2 Dark Thangarian

+1 Lashina

This is a more versatile spread of 3 drops that also allows me to alter my choice of search cards.

-4 Enemy of my Enemy

+4 Hero of the Two Worlds.

I really like this new search card, and it allows me to go find Darkseid or Juggernaught. It also reduces the chance of drawing multiples of low drop cards. The higher threshold is less of a concern, when you have 7 3 drops and 4 search cards that can dig for them.

-4 Flying Kick

+4 Lord of Apokolips

A versatile +2/+2 pump that can be used on offence or defence is a nice trick to have in your arsenal. It can only be used on Darkseid, but I think the focus should be on that character. As you want the game to drag out, a hyper offensive attack pump is probably less useful than one that can maintain field advantage on either turn.

-3 Ancient Throne

+3 Ancient Evil.

Being able to give Darkseid the Brotherhood affiliation makes the Insignificant Threats less of a dead card. Both cards allow you to get round uniqueness, and that will be hugely useful for this deck.

Ultimately I do not think it is a tier 1 deck. But it is capable of beating a lot of the key decks in the format. An early Dark Matter Drain or Lashina could well give you an out against Quicksilver. Your resource row control will make life difficult for Ahmed.

Most of all it is fun to use, and that is all that really matters to me.

Mighty Oaks from Little Acorns Grow, pt1 (UK Nationals Tourney Report)

maidstonedemon — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 19:46:16 +0000

MIGHTY OAKS FROM LITTLE ACORNS GROW

The above title pretty much sums up the UK Nationals. It started off as a casual statement along the lines of, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool to have a National Championship like they have on the MtG scene’, then it was thirty or so people, a venue and a handful of prizes provided by myself, Steve Garrett and Jason Howlett (trophy, playmat and EA bundle respectively). Finally with only a couple of days to go before the tourney we had a hatful of great surprises.

1) Registration reached 49 people

2) UDE Europe came up trumps with 25 T-Shirts, 16 Playmats, Hulk Trophies and more EA’s

3) UDE’s Ben Seck informs us that the top 8 finishers will all receive invites to the World Championships

Here is an account of the event from the perspective of the guys and gals of Team Demon.

We headed up on the train from Maidstone to Euston, leaving early to ensure that we were amongst the first to arrive. There had been no team decisions with regards decks, each of the players had made a personal choice and then spent 2-3 weeks playing in our weekly events, fine tuning and tweaking.

Deck choices were as follows:

· Graham Beadle - GLEE ‘Jack of all Lanterns, Master of None’

· Amy Chizlett - Inhumans/Heralds

· David Moakes - Secret Society ‘Grodd Control’

· Ben Waghorn – JLA/JLI ‘Good Guys’

· Jack Rutter – ‘Big Brotherhood’

· Nathan Greenwood – JLA Curve

· Holly Humphrey – Hellboy Lone Visible

· Tommy Gibson – Hellboy Lone Visible

· Vince Newman – Squadron ‘Chicken Supreme’

I’ve posted the reasons for my choice of deck in my Blog, although I failed to mention my growth of a ‘facial construct’ to improve personal affinity with my deck.

Tube closures meant that we were delayed a little on the underground and it turns out that Russell Square station was nearer to our new venue than where we actually got off, at Euston, but we did encounter the Loughborough guys en route as we traipsed past the original venue, The County Hotel.

Ten Strong they were the largest team of players at the event, with their numbers including some Realms regulars (Lord of Limbo and Bungo Underhill). All decked out in House of Heroes yellow T-Shirts they were fairly easy to pick out from the crowd.

After arriving at the venue, The Royal National Hotel, we set up shop, laid out the prizes, awaiting the arrival of the TO, Jason Howlett. This time proved handy as I got the chance to meet up with some familiar faces and put faces to a number of names previously encountered only by means of the internet. We eventually kicked off the tournament at around 12.30, with eight rounds of swiss and a top 8 to look forward to.

The final number of entrants was 47. A number of players who had pre-registered were unable to make it, however, a few of those places were taken by players who hadn’t. The biggest disappointment was the lack of turnout from the top players from the hay day of Vs System in the UK, so there was no Ian Vincent, Tim Willoughby, Simon O’Keefe, Duncan Tang, Karl Bown or Thomas Reeves. This was a shame, as although the attendance was better than originally anticipated, their no show took a little of the prestige away from the event.

Round 1 vs Nick Garver (Secret Society Grodd Control)
My first round opponent Nick, was one of the ten players from the House of Heroes in Loughborough. The proprietor of that establishment informs me that he is affectionately known as the hobbit as he used to turn up at the shop without shoes, a habit he has since been steered away from. Nick was playing a SS build, similar to the one I had won with at the London City Champs, the decklist is listed below:

1 x Doomsday - Engine of Destruction

1 x Gorilla Grodd - Psionic Simian

1 x Mr Freeze - Cold Blooded

1 x Deathstroke the Terminator - Killing Machine

3 x Black Manta - Underworld Marauder

1 x Sinestro - Yellow Lantern

4 x Gorilla Grodd - Grodd Awfall

4 x Poison Ivy - Intoxicating

2 x Dr. Psycho - Demented Dwarf

1 x Charaxes - Moth Monster

1 x Deadshot - Floyd Lawton

4 x Dr Sivana - Mad Scientist

3 x Cheetah - Barbara Minerva

1 x The Riddler - Riddle me This

1 x Chemo - Toxic

1 x Dr Polaris - Polar Opposite

–

4 x Path of Destruction

4 x Straight to the Grave

4 x Master Plan

4 x Forced Conscription

4 x Unnatural Selection

3 x Coup d’etat

3 x Monkey See Monkey Do

–

2 x Gorilla City

1 x Hidden HQ

1 x Remote Facility

Nick informed me that he had only received the deck that morning from team mate Dave ‘Bungo Underhill’ Pyrah. This would account for his slow play as he seemed unsure with regards some of the decision making, he also needs some tips on keeping his relevant board areas (resource, support, attack rows and KO’d pile) more clearly defined.

During the game I pretty much hit the god draw, setting up an early chopblock lock, facilitated by Nick missing his 2-drop whilst I went Salakk (T1), Kyle (L.Armor + Chop Block on Salakk T2), Boosted Olapet + Gnort (T4). Although the game was always close on END the game was never really close in reality. Nick was a likeable opponent with a somewhat quirky playing style, although he made no obvious mistakes in our match. He then proceeded to win his next 5 games after this defeat, going to 5-1 before losing his last 2 to finish 5-3. 1-0

Round 2 vs Steve ‘Kamiza’ Garrett (Marvel Knight ‘Punisher Guns Blazing’)

Bit of a grudge match this. I’d done the double over Steve at the London City champs, beating his Super Troopers with my aforementioned Grodd deck, in both the swiss and the Final. On this particular day we had two very different decks going head to head, my Lanterns against his Frank Castle led Marvel Knights.

The game swung hugely in Steve’s favour when he used a Finishing Move on Olapet. After this point he dropped Frank, who, with his two weapons, always causes headaches. Dropping Ghost Rider on turn 6 meant he could then amass enough burn for the win, despite me having Sinestro. Also, a second Helping Hand at my disposal at this point (turn 6) seriously could have changed things, but just having the one meant game to Steve. 1-1

Steve’s deck is listed below:

4 Punisher, Suicide Run
4 Daredevil, Fearless Survivor
4 Marvel Boy, noh-Varr
2 Morbius, Biochemical Bloodsucker
1 Cloak, Shadow Master
4 Punisher, Guns Blazing
1 Wolverine, Covert Predator
1 Captain America, Loyal Patriot
1 Moon Knight, Knight of Khonshu
2 Vengeance, Spirit of Vengeance
1 Hulk, Savage Hulk
1 Ghost Rider, Spirit of Vengeance
1 Punisher, Angel of Death4 Wild Ride
4 Mobilize
4 Savage Beatdown
4 Devastating Blow
4 Finishing Move
2 Bring the Pain

4 Desert Eagle
4 Katana
3 M60s

Round 3 vs Helen Cope (Fantastic 4 ‘Family of Four’)
I had seen during the first round that Helen was playing a Family of Four build which, in testing, had been almost an auto lose for my deck. Unfortunately for Helen today was one of those days when the gaming gods were either looking favourably on me or dumping on her from a great height. Missed drops, underdrops combined with me hitting the perfect drop on every turn, including the Light Armor and Chopping Block, meant that Helen never saw more than two characters, and she only saw that for one turn in the whole game. Nigh on a walkover, but with no real satisfaction in the victory. 2-1

Helens Deck:
4 x Invisible Woman - Walking on air

4 x Human Torch - Matchstick

4 x Mr Fantastic - String Bean

1 x Invisible Woman - First Lady of the Fantastic Four

4 x Thing - Idol O’ Millions

2 x Human Torch - Nova Blast

2 x Mr Fantastic - Critical Thinker

1 x Invivible Woman - Sight Unseen

3 x Thing - Heavy Hitter

1 x Human Torch - Flame On!

1 x Invisible Woman - Shield of the Four

1 x Thing - Ever Lovin’ Blue Eye’d Thing

1 x Silver Surfer - Norrin Radd

–

4 x Savage Beatdown

4 x Family of Four

4 x It’s Clobberin’ Time

3 x Force Field Projection

4 x Mobilize

4 x Signal Flare

1 x Torch And Thing

1 x Reed and Sue

1 x Only Human

–

4 x Four Freedoms Plaza

By now we’d got over the disappointment of there being no bar on site at the venue. We’d found a pub next door to the event and as my deck tended to win or lose quickly was able to nip off for a pint of Abbot between each round…yum!

Will continue the report in part 2 which I’ll post on Friday. Tomorrow = Another QQ Article from Gary.