Tournament of Champions Results!
Round 1
Avengers vs. X-Men
Crisis: Spider-infected, Omega Bomb
Avengers: Steve, Sam, Vision, Iron Man, War Machine
X-Men: Storm, Beast, X-23, Honey Badger, Domino
War Machine popped off in the middle, dazing/killing Domino repeatedly before her actions. X-23 and Honey Badger easily handled Sam and Iron Man on the left flank. X-23 had a big turn where she dazed both Iron Man and Sam and got a hit on War Machine. Beast and Storm were able to win the objective game against Vision. Steve left middle to help but Storm and Beast were able to daze him. X-Men for the win!
Black Order vs. Syndicate
Crisis: Montesi Formula, Gamma Bases
Black Order: Reality Corvus, Proxima, Power Swan, Black Dwarf
Syndicate: Kingpin, Hood, Bullseye, Black Cat, Luke Cage, Okoye
Using Sacrifice, Luke Cage, Okoye, Criminal Syndicate was able to keep Kingpin healthy by one health. Kingpin spiked on his return attack and got a lot of damage on Corvus, and in the next turn Syndicate stole priority and used Bullseye to get the two guaranteed damage on him necessary to daze him before he could activate. Black Dwarf snagged central spell book. Power Swan got a 5 power Patch Up on Black Dwarf, making him tough to take down, but eventually Hood was able to daze Black Dwarf in possessed form and Black Cat was also in position to steal. Black Cat then double moved to back objective and beat Proxima for control with Syndicate leadership for an early win.
Midnight Sons vs. Asgard
Crisis: Omega Bomb, Alien Ship
Midnight Sons: Blade, Dr. Strange, Moon Knight, Black Cat, Ghost Rider
Asgard: Thor, Loki, Angela, Reality Corvus
A crisis selection favoring Asgard, Midnight Sons struggled with power this game with Loki's aura and having to spend so much power on the mission, and the up close fight played into Asgard's strategy. Angela was the MVP this game: first, she handled both Moon Knight and Black Cat by herself, and then used Doomed Prophecy on turn 4 to kill Dr. Strange, Moon Knight, and chase down Black Cat for a daze and token grab all in one activation. Ghost Rider and Corvus duked it out on one side of the board, with Ghost Rider able to win the matchup, but he was too late to aid the middle, where Thor and Loki held the line against Blade and Dr. Strange long enough for Angela to come to the rescue.
Spider-Foes vs. Brotherhood
Crisis: Cubes,
Spider-Foes: Green Goblin, Dr. Octopus, Venom, Mysterio, Lizard
Brotherhood: Magneto, Scarlet Witch, Toad, Rogue
A straight up brawl that favored Brotherhood, with Scarlet Witch able to daze/KO Venom before he was activated for two consecutive turns. Spider-Foes made some desperate late-game objective plays to threaten a win, even managing to K.O. Magneto. Toad was able to jump around and grab all of the objectives at the end and close out the game with a win for Brotherhood.
Defenders vs. Web Warriors
Crisis: Spider Portals, Panic Grips City
Defenders: Dr. Strange, Hulk, Scarlet Witch, Clea
Web Warriors: Spider Miles, Spider Peter, Ghost Spider, Moon Knight, Black Cat
I'm not that familiar with Web Warriors, and I tried to play very defensively around the objectives. I picked Spider Portals to try and split up the Defenders, but Hulk was just too much to deal with, he's surprisingly fast with his Gamma Leap and way too tanky to ever think about dazing. Hulk spiked his rolls and wiped out Venom pretty quickly, and Scarlet Witch just annihilated heroes and held her side of the table by herself. The remaining warriors were unable to push/pull their way to victory.
Dark Dimension vs. Cabal
Crisis: Infinity Formula and Cure
Dark Dimension: Dormammu, Clea, Omega Red, Honey Badger
Cabal: Red Skull, Killmonger, Ultron, M.O.D.O.K.
Ultron was the MVP here, grabbing the center objective and feeling safe from retaliation due to Age of Ultron, and then battling one on one with Omega Red to hold a cure and hold Dark Dimension's left flank. Dormammu went up the right flank and was able to wipe out M.O.D.O.K., but with Red Skull's ability to redirect attacks, he was unable to dominate his side. Cabal was also frustrated with attacks not landing on their target, and Honey Badger took the brunt of their attacks, but ultimately was taken out of commission. Clea wasn't able to do much this game, and at the end it all came down to Ultron just being unkillable. Switching from injured to healthy when he resurrects is very powerful mechanic to contest secures!
Wakanda vs. Convocation
Crisis: Infinity Formula,
Wakanda: Black Panther, Shuri, Killmonger, Okoye, Hulk
Convocation: Sorcerer Strange, Dr. Voodoo, Ancient One, Baron Mordo, Clea
Black Panther was VIP as he long moved to the enemy objective and handled Sorcerer Strange and Baron Mordo pretty much solo. Dr. Voodoo ended up finishing off Black Panther and Shuri, who was holding down Wakanda's home objective on that side of the board, but he was too late to affect the game. Ancient One focused down Killmonger, but Hulk swept Clea and Ancient One and Okoye held the other back point for a Wakanda win.
Guardians of the Galaxy vs. X-Force
Crisis: Consoles, Hammers
G.O.G.: Starlord, Gamora, Ronan, Nebula, Rocket, Groot
X-Force: Cable, X-23, Rogue, Magik, Domino
Gamora, Nebula and Ronan moved forward to secure the portal on the right side of the board, but X-23 spiked an early "All you've got" spender to daze Gamora on turn 1, and then simply ran away from that side of the board. Cable, Magik, and Rogue took the left side and were able to take down Rocket and Groot. Magik has enough mobility that she was able to head to Guardian's home console and easily soloed Starlord with her mystical prowess. Eventually Gamora was K.O.d, and in general X-Force's strategy of avoiding Ronan and Gamora and focusing on the weaker members of G.O.G. worked out well. Two wins for X-23 in one round!
Round 2
Asgard vs. Brotherhood
Crisis: Senators and Intrusions
Asgard: Thor, Mind Loki, Hood, Heimdall, Valkyrie
Brotherhood: Magneto, Juggernaut, Mystique, Scarlet Witch
What a fun crisis combination, as the Senator was discovered early by Juggernaut, and with the ability to go through the portals and the reduced defense on whoever holds the Senator, the Senator would change hands multiple times each turn. Thor was the MVP here, getting some solid Wild Throws off his builder, first to push Juggernaut twice in one turn off to the side of the board, forcing an early and inefficient use of Asteroid M, and then to close out the game by hitting Juggernaut with two wild throw spenders and a throw, each time connecting into Magneto for a double K.O. on Magneto and Juggernaut. Hood showed how useful he can be by transforming to possessed form and once he had hold of the Senator, it was just too hard to take him out with his damage reduction and he absorbed most of Brotherhood's damage before going down.
Syndicate vs. X-Men
Crisis: Super-powered Scoundrels and Spider-infected
X-Men: Storm, Rogue, Domino, Vision, Magik
Syndicate: Kingpin, Hood, Omega Red,
I usually take the reins of Syndicate, but I am also the X-Men expert, so I got a taste of my own medicine this game by piloting X-Men against the Syndicate. Not much to say here, and I felt something my partner has expressed to me many times when I am playing Syndicate: about half way through the game, it felt that there was no way to win. With Omega Red being able to hold off Magik, and Vision being unable to bully Kingpin off his home base, there just didn't feel like an opportunity for me to succeed. I'm sure that team and crisis selection plays a role here but I'm just not seasoned enough to see it. Syndicate moves on to round 3!
Defenders vs. Cabal
Crisis: Researcher and Infinity Formula
Defenders: Dr. Strange, Blade, Wolverine, Iron Fist
Brotherhood: Mystique, Sabretooth, Zemo, Bullseye, Red Skull
Dr. Strange opened a portal on turn 2 connecting the left two objectives, and he and Wolverine popped through and were able to daze Bullseye and K.O. him on the next turn. Clever placement of the portal limited Sabretooth's response, and he wasn't able to get a return daze or K.O. Exceptional Healing, and Dr. Strange's heal on Wolverine left him standing healthy on the enemy home objective. Brotherhood was able to guide the researcher to their home base, which drew the attention of the Defenders. Collapsing on the Cabal home base, Dr. Strange, Blade and Iron Fist were able to K.O. Zemo and Red Skull to prevent a runaway with the researcher and close out the game. Overall I was very pleased with Blade, Iron Fist, and Wolverine's performance, being very mobile threats that combo well with Dr. Strange's defensive ability. Iron Fist is kind of underwhelming in my opinion, so I guess in the future I'd prefer Luke Cage here as their Heroes for Hire card is just so good, and Iron Fist ended up needing to stay back and do some objective sitting until he was ready to use it, which feels more like a Luke Cage role to me. Although Iron Fist's spender is awesome, it does not include rerolls, which can lead to some disappointment. Luke Cage's spender is still pretty great, and getting that stagger off his builder definitely throws off your opponent. Wolverine can use "All you've got" to Pseudo-Charge, and has his built in super-power, and Blade's Night of the Dampir can keep him moving around and get plenty of attacks off.
Wakanda vs. X-Force
Crisis: Gamma Station and Cubes
X-Force: Cable, Domino, Baron Zemo, Deadpool
Wakanda: Black Panther, Killmonger, Shuri, Angela, Heimdall
X-force was able to grab enough cubes to offset Wakanda's dominance on objectives, choosing to castle up on their home objective and attempt to shoot Wakanda down with a rerolls/incinerate/rapidfire strategy that I read on the internet. You cannot reroll attack dice against Angela, however, and adding Heimdall to the Wakanda lineup gives Wakanda rerolls for days. So it was very difficult to get damage onto Angela with a strategy focused on getting as many rerolls as possible. To break the tie between the two teams, Killmonger was sent forth on the first turn of Round 3 to get a successful Usurp the Throne daze onto Cable. Although X-Force was able to K.O. Killmonger in response, the 2 VP definitely spelled the beginning of the end for X-Force. Angela coming in to daze the remainder of the team spelled the end of the end and Wakanda moved onto Round 3.
Round 3
Syndicate vs. Asgard
Crisis: Cubes and Demons Downtown
X-Men: Thor, Angela, Heimdall
Syndicate: Kingpin, Crossbones, Black Cat, Ultron, Magik
Angela can be scary, but this game she rolled really badly and didn't end up doing very much damage to Syndicate. Meanwhile, Syndicate used their ability to pass off objectives quite effectively, handing two objectives to Kingpin, who stood back on the home objective. He simply shrugged off all of the cube damage and scored like crazy, and without good offense on the side of Asgard, they had no way to get the objectives back. Thor did his thing and flew around and collected several cubes by dazing the forward members of Syndicate. Crossbones grabbed an objective early, handed it to Kingpin, and then managed to land a finishing blow onto Thor, who was a bit damaged from holding all of the cubes. Although he didn't have any power left to pick up the cubes he dropped, this led to a very rough turn for Asgard, and forced them to spend their priority turn picking up the pieces. Ultron's ability to transform from injured to healthy is really good in Syndicate, and he was able to bully Heimdall off his home objective. Ultimately this game was a bit of a disaster for Asgard and underscored how strong Syndicate can be on the old mission set. With the new mission set, Crossbones and Kingpin can't shrug off the cube damage as easily, having to actually have the power to ignore the damage, so I feel like it would have been a very different game otherwise.
Wakanda vs. Defenders
Crisis: Gamma Bases and Cures
Wakanda: Black Panther, Shuri, Killmonger, Okoye, Hulk
Defenders: Dr. Strange, Wong, Sentinel Prime, Ghostrider, Black Widow
Defenders tried a very defensive game plan, with Ghostrider grabbing a cure and holding the middle Gamma Base, Sentinel Prime and Dr. Strange holding the back gamma base. No one can kill Ghostrider with 2 extra defense dice and with rerolls and two healing sources, right? And then since he can come back from the dead through either Wong or Black Widow, they surely won't be able to kill him again, right? Well the answers are wrong, he can be killed, and right, he can't be killed twice, but he can spend the whole game dazed. And with not much offensive output or game plan except for walking Hulk off the center with Dr. Strange (and having him Gamma Leap right back to the center), it didn't end well for Defenders.
Final Round
Syndicate vs. Wakanda
Crisis: Cubes and Demons Downtown
Wakanda: Black Panther, Okoye, Winter Soldier, Shuri, Angela
Syndicate: Kingpin, Crossbones, Black Cat, Lizard, Omega Red
Angela just kept facing off against Syndicate during this tournament, and I just don't think she has the damage output to push through a team singularly focused on surviving. Not much to say here that hasn't been said before: Syndicate just went after objectives and scored out before Wakanda could do much about it.
And the winner is... Kingpin's Criminal Syndicate!
Here's some caveats and overall takeaways so far:
- These games were mostly played using the old set of crises, excluding Terrigen mists which we did not have access to because I don't have any Inhumans
- Players were not restricted to use the same crises for each mission, which led to a bit of crisis tailoring to the opponent, but since both players had this option, it was mostly balanced
- Kingpin's Syndicate was a little overpowered with the old set of missions...I can say the new missions are a lot more balanced!
- Some MVPs of the tournament were Hood and Angela. I found Hood to be useful in a variety of situations, generally being a little attack dog that you can send to collect this or that objective or daze this or that enemy hero once he's in his possessed form. Hood's ability to heal on his normal card is pretty unique in the game and can play into some great strategies and situations; I like it on Dormammu, Kingpin, and Asgard teams especially. And Angela is just so good at both the objective and attrition game, she can really pop off late game with Doomed Prophecy, and having a Size 4 terrain throw that's always online with a long move, she can pretty reliably cross the board and daze whomever she pleases. Her health pool and the fact you can't reroll dice against her makes her a solid defensive hero and great at roaming around looking for extracts. Her Asgardian superpower gives her enough power for interacting with objectives or to use leadership abilities, so Asgard, Midnight Sons, Syndicate and Wakanda feel like great homes for her
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