by Patrick Yapjoco
I missed the first round of WKOs because of two reasons:
1) It was Sealed and I didn’t want to drive 6hrs to play the lottery
2) I couldn’t justify closing the store for the weekend to drive 6hrs and play Sealed
Then Wizkids announced a second round of WKO Regionals, but this time it was 300 Modern Age Constructed and there was one an hour from me. My favorite format and it’s close. Done deal. We actually had started testing for ROC States and Worlds since it was going to be post-rotation, but since the WKO was coming up sooner so we had to test some pre-rotation; it was a little tough to test because it was so wide open. During our discussion, we had come to the conclusion (as many players did) that come post-rotation it would be Zombie Team Base, Super Skrull, and Quinjet teams. I didn’t really want to go too deep into the pre-rotation so I only worked on teams that were for post-rotation (first rotation).
Quinjet Main Team
Kevin had come up with a first iteration of a Quinjet team, and it was TERRIBLE. At the same time, the store had a huge collection of ID Cards being traded in, and Kevin decide it would be in everyone’s best interest if he just bought them all since ID Cards were going to be the wave of the future (so to speak). So, I took the stack aside and just studied it for a day or two and came up with the current iteration of the team. We tested and tested for days and it turned out it could handle the current format, even with the Power Batteries. While everyone else decided on either a Power Battery or Phoenix Force, I just said screw it, I’ve been testing this team for a while and it has good game against the field, even pre-rotation. I would rely on the unfamiliarity of the Quinjet since it has not been thoroughly explored and there were new figures and ID Cards coming out that might make the team better (DC ID Cards to be exact). Combine that with the new Colossal Retaliation figures and the team is quite viable. With all that in mind, I decided to go to the San Diego WKO Regional with this:
The Team:
Quinjet ID Cards
Quinjet 140
-Resource 5
Ultron-6 Drone 30
Ultron Drone (Future) 30
Atomica 25
HENRY 15
The Atom 15
ID Cards 40
-The Atom
-Iron Man
-SHIELD Level 7
-SHIELD Level 7
-Nightwing
-Red Hulk
-Bucky Barnes
-Red Tornado
Sideline: The Atom 15, NFAOS Iron Man 50, SR Nick Fury 120, Peggy Carter 60, OP Kit Nightwing 100, OP Kit Red Hulk 100, NFAOS (UC) Winter Soldier 95, Red Tornado 95
The team just had so many things it can do; you’ll just have to read on to see what kind of tricks it can do.
Round 1 – Pierre McDermott
Captain Thunder 200
-Ophidian 25
Orange Power Battery + Orange Ring
-6 Orange Constructs
Pierre is one of my players at the store and he was playing his favorite piece (and team), Captain Thunder One-Man Army. He has played this to some success, and it’s quite a potent team if you don’t know what to do against it. I win the map roll and we play on Slaughter Swamp. I need to keep things relatively clear so I don’t get bogged down by his Wall Construct. I move halfway across the map with my team and pass. He assigns the Wall construct, HSS (carrying Tawny) and smacks the Quinjet for a chunk. He sets up his Barrier tokens with the Wall, but since I positioned by the water, the Barrier tokens can’t be put on the water to block my LOF.
Next turn, I bring in The Atom via the Quinjet Resource and ID Card in Nick Fury with an Ultron Drone and set up a shot. Nick is at a 12-Attack/5-Damage penetrating attack. I turn off his Invincible and take a shot, needing a 7 with 2 PCs on my side (Atomica and Nick Fury). On the third try Nick connects and hits Captain Thunder on his STOP click. I then Colossal Retaliation with The Atom and negate his Super Senses/Shapechange and hit Captain Thunder for two more penetrating damage and KO’ing Tawny.
On his next turn, he Pulse Waves with his special power and hits everyone for 2-damage, KO’ing The Atom. He tries and Walls up again. On my next turn, I Colossal Retaliate with the other Atom in my starting area and hit him to his last click. I then ID Card in Red Tornado to finish off Captain Thunder with some Force Blast. 1-0, 300pts
Round 2 – Kris Flores
(Robot Theme)
Ultron (Age of Ultron) Drone 30
Ultron-18.2 Drone 30
Mouserss Swarm 60
Mouserss Swarm 60
Mouserss Swarm 60
Phoenix Force 36
-3 Assigned
-2 on the Resource Dial
ID Cards 20
-Batman
-Aquaman
-Nova
-SHIELD Level 7
Sideline: TW Batman 85, TW Aquaman 60, Nova 60, SR Nick Fury 120
Kris is a teammate and is playing one of our more unique and cool teams we came up with. He is running a Robot Swarm team that abuses the penetrating damage from the Mouserss in the form of B/C/F to go along with their Flurry, and penetrating Poison (all thanks to the Phoenix Force!). He wins the map roll and we go to Odym. He slowly Sidesteps while I creep up as well with the Quinjet.
On his next turn he calls in Nick Fury with an Ultron Drone, TKs Nick closer to me with a Mousers Swarm and takes a shot at my Quinjet for 4-damage, after he turns off my Invulnerability. On my next turn, I return the favor, and I KO the Ultron Drone who called in Nick. I also bring in The Atom via the Quinjet Resource. He continues his approach and calls in Batman with another Ultron Drone. Batman picks TK and sends in a Mousers (with the Magick fragment) to attack with a Flurry and hits the Quinjet for another chunk of damage. I use an Atom to Colossal Retaliate and connect on said Mousers, but goes down in the process. I Call In Nightwing and bring in Peggy Carter via the Quinjet Resource and work away at the Mystics Mousers. I turn off Sidestep (since he doesn’t have Charge anymore via the Phoenix Force) with Peggy Carter as well and slowly retreat to my starting area.
He has a second Mousers already in tow, but can’t Sidestp to Flurry/BCF my guys, so he Calls In Nova and that’s when it hit the fan. Nova goes full nova… and Pulse Waves EVERYONE. We all take 2-damage, including his two Mousers in the process. My Drones go down, the remaining Atom goes down, as does HENRY and the Quinjet takes damage as well. Peggy Carter also goes away since she took damage. Luckily, Atomica’s defense is too high and he misses her.
We continue trading blows at this point and I manage to take down a Mousers with a Winter Soldier Call In and my Quinjet is dangerously low on life. I am able to bring in Iron Man through the Resource and Pilot the Quinjet to give myself a fighting chance. He pushes me back to the corner of my starting area and continues his attack with the Mystics Mousers. He misses (my Defenses are still too high as he needs 9s through my PC). He Calls In Aquaman to try and get the finishing blow, but rolls low on his BCF. At this point he is all out of ID Cards so the answers are all on the table.
He presses forward with the remaining Ultron Drone and the third Mousers, but time is about to be called as we here the less than 5-minute mark announcement. I cannot break through his defense so I take a shot with the Quinjet (leaving Atomica exposed and vulnerable), putting Mousers on the (last) STOP click. He Sidesteps and Poisons my Atomica (which is what I wanted) and tries for a Flurry attack, but misses both attack (again, my defense is too high). Now on my turn, I have Atomica on Exploit Weakness and I have Iron Man’s Perplex through the Pilot ability and I Perplex up Atomica’s Damage to 3 and attack the Mousers Swarm and KO it as time is called, and I pull off a close game. Had he not Poisoned Atomica, I would have lost because I couldn’t get past the Invulnerability with only 1-Damage showing and Precision Strike. I needed to get to the 2-Damage/Exploit Weakness click so I can finish off the Mousers Swarm. 2-0, 176pts
Round 3 – Garret Botain
(Avengers Theme)
Quicksilver 75
-Ion 25
SR Scarlet Witch 75
-Black Hand 25
Ant-Man 50
Green Power Battery + Green Ring
-Green Constructs
Garrett is one of the best players in the San Diego area. He is playing a new and innovative team which displays the powers of the siblings, Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, with control backup in the form of the Green Power Battery. He wins the Map Roll and we go to Ranx. He starts by putting on the Decoy on Quicksilver and putting Scarlet Witch’s Hex Magic marker on Quicksilver. Ant-Man morphs and produces and Ant Swarm. Quicksilver slowly moves up. My first turn consisted of breaking a blocking terrain directly in front of me with an Ultron Drone and flying the Jet through it, carrying everyone (except The Atom, of course).
His next turn he makes another Ant Swarm and morphs to Hank Pym (lab coat), which gives his Ant Swarms Empower. He pushes to use HSS with Quicksilver and runs next to the Quinjet and back to his hub and connects with a Flurry attack that hit for 10-damage(!). With reducers, I only take 6 (“only” 6, really?). I retaliate, literally. The Atom comes over and takes out the Ant Swarms. After busting through the blocking terrain with Ultron-6, I Call in Nick Fury to take out Hank Pym.
Scarlet Witch takes her turn and shoots the Quinjet, but alas, the ESD proved too much. I am able to bring in Peggy Carter from the Resource and stop HSS from Quicksilver. He just moves to the back corner of his starting zone, outside of my 3 squares. We do more battle with Scarlet Witch at the moment, but she had put on a Shield Construct so when I Called In Winter Soldier, he missed his attack. After jockeying for positioning, he is able to take a HSS/Flurry attack on my Quinjet, which takes another 6-damage. I am able to lock up Scarlet Witch with both The Atom and Atomica, but the Atom eventually goes down to Scarlet, but not before she takes a click of damage. I continue my advance and basically lock Quicksilver in the corner, while shutting off his HSS from Peggy Carter. I am able to come in with another Atom and Colossal Retaliate on Quicksilver and actually connect with an attack, hitting for 2-Penetrating.
After some missed attacks, I Call In Red Tornado and free action Force Blast Quicksilver for 1-penetrating damage. I then use Peggy Carter’s power and name Invincible, which is now showing on Ion’s dial. With that, I just power action Force Blast Quicksilver for the KO with Red Tornado. As time is running out, I Call In Nightwing with an Ultron Drone. I use Peggy Carter’s power to turn off Invulnerability and attack with Nightwing, carrying HENRY. As last action is called, Nightwing connects, he misses his Super Senses roll and she takes 4-damage, KO’ing her. 3-0, 300pts
Round 4 – Chris Pribanick
(Soldier Theme)
Nick Fury 120
-Ophidian 25
Jason of Sparta 60
General Lane 40
Redwing 20
-Avengers Response Unit ATA 3
Orange Power Battery + Orange Ring
-Orange Constructs
Chris is another teammate, but a newer player. He has made great strides in his play and it has shown in the recent events he has played in. He is playing the archetypal Nick Fury/Jason of Sparta team. With the Orange Battery, he has Pulse Wave protection as well. He wins the map and off we go to Ryut. He puts a construct on Redwing and carries the whole team as far as he can, then uses Jason’s special power to protect them for one turn. He then puts up Wall tokens with Redwing. I just make a beeline towards him and move and base who I can on his team, and pass. He positioned well so I couldn’t lockdown more of his team.
He puts a construct on Nick and uses Nick to KO one Drone, then pushes Jason of Sparta to Charge the other Drone. He is able to get the BCF roll of 4 to KO the remaining Drone. He Outwits basically everything from my Quinjet and turns off Atomica’s PC. Being behind right away, and losing both of my main pieces put me in a bind. Luckily, I have a tank masquerading as a Jet and ID Cards, not to mention The Atom, who Colossal Retaliates and smacks Redwing and General Lane for 2-damage each. I clear the Jet.
He pushes Nick and KO’s The Atom and puts another construct on one of his guys. I bring in The Atom and KO Redwing via Colossal Retaliation. I Call In Nightwing, pop out a Tony Zucco pog and KO Jason of Sparta. After a round of clearing, he Pulse Waves my entire team with Nick, but not before Walling up General Lane to keep him safe. I lose HENRY and Tony Zucco and Atomica takes one. Luckily The Atom’s defense power cannot be countered or ignored so he lives. I Retaliate and KO General Lane. He KO’s The Atom. I try for a crippling attack with my Nick, but miss.
At this point, he only has a Nick Fury left, and I have a Quinjet and Atomica. I am actually down 125-124, so I cannot retreat. I press more, using Red Tornado to get some damage in. I am actually able to get him to the last click but he Regens back to the third click. As time is running out yet again, I decide I have to finally go on the offensive with the Jet. I need an 8 to hit with the Quinjet on a Running Shot to get him off his Invulnerability. I attack, and hit. He has a PC with the Power Battery. I still hit. Nick PCs. I still hit. Nick takes one damage (click 4). He picks Toughness. I then bring in Red Hulk via the Resource. I now need a 9 to win. I still have Atomica’s PC, so I Charge in for the attack. I miss. I use Atomica’s CSA team ability. I HIT, he takes 3 after the reducer and I win as time is called! That was one of the craziest games I have been in, and I definitely needed all the luck in that game to pull it out (don’t bank on 8s and 9s to win the game. It might happen once, but it isn’t a winning strategy, but he played so well I had no choice). 3-0, 300pts
Top 8 – Dwight
Krang 170
Juston Seyfert 40
Baxter Stockman 30
Baxter Stockman 30
Ultron-18.2 Drone 30
Dwight is a longtime player at the venue and is one of the top players (obviously, he is in the Top 8!). I’ve known him for over 10 years so this is more of a casual match really. He is playing one of the new big baddies in Krang. I win the Map Roll and we go to Flooded Wakanda. My thinking is that his non-flyers will have a problem traversing the terrain. I move up behind one of the walls and pass. He thinks for a bit and ultimately decides to go for it. He makes Krang a Colossal and…. moves carrying a Baxter Stockman… he then tokens Krang. He then says, “ok I’ll take a shot at your Drone. I tell him he just moved up, and he even token’d Krang… he panics momentarily and says “I meant to Power Action Juston then move!” He looks at me and asks it that’s ok. I feign contemplation and say, “I’m just kidding, go ahead and do what you wanted to do.” So, after the rewind he takes the shot and KO’s one of my Drones. He then shoots the other one with his second attack. Now, I’m thinking maybe I should have made him to stick to his mistake. He moves the Ultron Drone up and gets as close to Krang as he can. He then takes the 2-Damage, but uses the Baxter Stockman he carried with him to heal him of 1 damage (Click 2). To add more salt to my wound, he Outwit’s my special damage power on the Quinjet with Krang. No good deed goes unpunished indeed.
After I lick my wounds, I Colossal Retaliate with the Atom and roll a 6. I hit everyone but Krang. He decides to use Krang’s PC. I roll a 3. I use Atomica’s PC and roll a 10. Not only did I still hit the original guys, I also hit Krang himself (click 4)! I KO the Drone and put the Baxters on their third click. His next turn he tries to Outwit and Poison The Atom, but I point out that it cannot be countered. He then just opts to attack him with Krang instead, making him Giant. The Atom goes down, he takes 1-damage from his trait, but heals 2 clicks(!) from the Baxter’s (he is now on click 3).
With my Quinjet cleared, I bring in The Atom from the Resource Dial, and Colossal Retaliate again. I need a 7 this time, and I connect, after some PCs on both our ends. The Baxters go down and Krang takes 2 more penetrating damage (click 5). All of that was at the beginning of the turn, so I Call In Nick Fury with the Jet. Nick takes a shot, 12 on 18 for 4-penetrating damage with PC backup. I hit and Krang goes down. He still has Juston Seyfert, but he just concedes at that point.
Top 4 – Brian
Wonder Woman 165
-Ion 25
Felix Faust 80
Green Power Batter + Green Ring
-Green Constructs
Brian is from the Temecula group and they have been making waves recently. They have a strong group and they keep getting stronger with every appearance. He is playing the boogeyman of the format. With Faust being banned in ROC events, nobody has seen what Faust can do post-Watchlist. Since WKO allows Faust, we can see him in all his glory. So far, it has proven to work well since Brian is now in the Top 4. He wins the Map Roll and we go to Deadpool’s House.
He puts a construct on Faust and passes. He rolls for Faust we are stuck with 3-Movement. So, I just move 3 squares on my turn and pass. On his next turn, he puts a construct on Wonder Woman and moves up slowly and passes. He rolls for Faust his team ignores hindering terrain. I clear. He clears. He forgets to roll for Faust. After I bring in The Atom via the Resource I move as far as I can into a room and pass. He rolls the empty slot, so I dodge another bullet. He decides now is the time and HSS with Wonder Woman and hits the Quinjet with an Ultra Heavy Object. I take 5-damage. He stays based with the Quinjet. I then debate whether it is better to Call In Winter Soldier or Nick Fury. Wonder Woman’s trait is causing me problems because Faust has an 18-Defense and I’m -1 to my Attack. I decide to Call In Winter Soldier since I can RCE my Attack up. I set up with Atomica and HENRY next to him. I go for an 11 on 18 for 4-damage (Quinjet now has Enhancement). I connect and Faust takes 4 and Winter Soldier takes 1 Mystics feedback damage. I then use The Atom to Colossal Retaliate and roll a 10, which is enough to hit both, KO’ing Faust (he had Super Senses and Shapechange on Faust, but not against The Atom!). Wonder Woman takes 1-damage.
His next turn he thinks about it a bit, and decides to try and breakaway HSS to pick up another Ultra Heavy. He is already doing 5-Damage as it is. He rolls a 1… what a break for me! On my next turn I just call in Nick Fury and fully blast her for 6-penetrating damage after turning off her Invincible. This puts her on her second to last click. She uses her free Mind Control (didn’t even read the trait until after, Quinjet cannot be Mind Controlled!) and he carries her back towards the Power Battery. He has Support showing on it after he pushed it to set up a Barrier inside. She is next to a wall as she clears.
On my next turn, I bring in Red Tornado via the Resource Dial, then Power Action to Call In Peggy Carter. I turn off Invincible with Peggy’s power and free action Force Blast Wonder Woman, putting her on her last click. I then power action with Red Tornado to KO Wonder Woman and win the game.
Finals – Kevin Afrooz
Krang 170
Juston Seyfert 40
Baxter Stockman 30
Lockjaw 25
Green Power Battery + Green Ring
-Green Constructs
Iron Man ID Card 5
Sideline: IIM Iron Man 150
Kevin is my partner in crime, so to speak. We travel everywhere, along with Justino Jimenez, and we were part of the first Team World Championship team. We test all the time and bounce ideas almost on a daily basis. Kevin is playing a Krang team that has control backup in the form of the Green Power Battery. We have tested this match a few times and each time, it’s just Krang running for his life and being out-actioned from the various “passengers” that come out of the Jet, or it turns out similar to my Top 8 match, where Krang just gets steam-rolled in a couple of turns. We know the outcome of this matchup and just decide to split the prizes, with me getting the win and the slot in Nationals.
The tournament was well-run, and Jay and his crew as well as Game Empire did a good job to keeping things flowing. Towards the end of the night, he just started giving out some massive prizing for the Battle Royales, from Zombie Galactus to Black Lantern Anti-Monitor. The competition was fierce, and I had to play against 4 players who play at my store to get to the top. The team worked almost to perfection. I learned more and more as I kept playing and I had some great matches (as you read above!). The versatility of the team is second to none, and it is hard for your opponent to predict what you will do since you have so many ID Cards, which gives you so many options. I think the only thing I would change is dropping Red Hulk for Nova so I too, can deal with pesky Ultron Drones. The best part about this team is that is 100% legal post-rotation, so this could be a player in the new format. Thanks for reading and please comment, ask questions, whatever. Let’s just get some discussion going on the Quinjet. It is truly a fun piece to play.
How did Kevin play a character from IIM? I thought those rotated in May?