Return to the Top in Greensboro, NC:

A Comic Dimension SQ Tournament Report

 

 

 

 

 by Patrick Yapjoco

 

When the new ROC Limited format was announced, my entire store was ecstatic.  All of the players immediately started thinking of teams and what we found was that this new format was WIDE OPEN.  You could quite possibly play anything you wanted to and it could work.  We had no idea because the format was untested.  I gathered my core group and we went to work.  A returning Justino Jimenez bolstered our confidence and it gave us the spark we needed and the hunger to get back to the top.  We ran weekly tournaments testing the format to get a base of what could be played.  What we found were these main pieces: Nick Fury SR, Mr. Mxyptlk, Fantomex, Banshee, Rick Jones, Zombie Super Skrull and a bevy of supporting figures like Atomica, Despotellis, various vehicles, and various Ultron Drones, and to a lesser extent, Copycat and Highfather.  That was the basis of the format in our eyes.

I saw that there was a Super Qualifier coming up, and wouldn’t you know it, it was also going to be the first of the season.  What better way to test out the format and start our road back to the top by playing in the first ever Super Qualifier for the brand new ROC Limited format?  We saw that it was in North Carolina, which was a state we have not visited in our travels for heroclix yet, so we made it a point to really try and make it.  Unfortunately, Kevin couldn’t make it, but Justino and I did make the long trip.

               When we arrive, we are immediately met with Chris Gordon, aka Prime, the owner of one of the best venues I have ever been in.  Everything about the store is akin to a 5-Star hotel, from the amazing deco and fixtures to the ergonomic office chairs for the players!  Chris is the epitome of southern hospitality as he took us to a great Whisky Bar/Restaurant and had our first round of drinks.  Chris is the leader of the cast of characters you would only find in a sitcom or movie: The Hedgehog, Bubbles, Skeletor, and Matt among countless others.  It’s a great atmosphere with personalities that would light up any comedy show or movie.  We got to hang out with the entire crew, and his amazing staff after Day 1 of the Super Qualifier (Swiss was Saturday, and Top 8 was on Sunday).  We had a great time, and played in Battle Royales all day and night.  Anyway, I just wanted to highlight the reason why we travel to these events.  It’s to make new friendships, play new players, and just meet new people all around.  Heroclix is such a blessing for me because without it, I wouldn’t get to meet these amazing people all over the country (and beyond!).  I, for one, am thankful for the ROC Circuit.

Ok, enough with that mushy stuff, let’s get back to what we are all here for: how did my hodge-podge team do?  Here’s what I played:

Rick Jones 75
Mr. Myxzptlk 70
Avengers Sky-Cycle 50
Ultron Drone (Age of Ultron) 30
Despotellis 30
Atomica 25
Blind Al 13
Cowgirl 7
Maps: Ranx, Slaughter Swamp, WWII Philippines Jungle
(300pts)

There were 28 players; with Comic Dimension’s crew in full force as well as Team Stratagem (they had 5 players make the trip from Alabama, including the Brocks, Howard and Easton).  It’s 4 Rounds of Swiss with a cut to a Top 8, which would be played on Sunday. This was going to be a competitive and fun first tournament for sure!

Round 1 – PJ McGalaughlin
Zombie Super-Skrull 170
Copycat 90
STAR Labs Technician 33
(293)
                PJ is a Comic Dimension team member and finished 3^rd in the last Super Qualifier in North Carolina.  He is packing the big baddie himself, Zombie Super Skrull.  This is still the boogie man of the format and he is playing him with the other boogie man (boogie woman?), Copycat.  The difference is Copycat is only scary in theory, as everyone is scared of her, but you don’t see her played as much, whereas Super Skrull is everywhere.  I win the map roll and we are off to Ranx.  He opts to take my Mxy and I am already behind, as Mxy is my main strategy for controlling the tempo.

I immediately Blind Al Copycat and move her onto one of the Orange Squares.  She starts to take damage and before you know it she is on click 4 by the time it gets to my 2^nd turn.  Meanwhile, he moves Super Skrull up after the Technician pushes to TK him farther up.  After I set up my second turn by pushing the Ultron Drone to hop into the Cycle and clearing Copycat, he sees his chance and pushes Super Skrull to Running Shot/Pulse Wave Copycat, KO’ing her, and preventing me from getting my Mxy back.  He brings her back. He misses his end of turn roll and Super Skrull is now on click 3.  After I take out Copycat with my own Pulse Wave, the score is now 90-90.  He clears and moves Mxy up a little bit.  I push to Pulse Wave Super Skrull with my Sky-Cycle again (after taking the power and stats from the Ultron Drone pilot) for 4-Damage.  He chooses to run back to the Technician, who is waiting with Support.  After some passes, I move up my entire team to chase him down and try and prevent him from healing, but alas, it wasn’t enough.  After an Outwit on Despotellis’s Speed Power and moving away, he is able to heal with the STAR Labs Technician for 1-Damage.

The Round 2 battle with Super Skrull begins with him Pulse-Waving my team for 1-Damage each.  I KO his Technician with my Captain America bystander and he clears.  The score is now 123-90 in my favor.  I have one shot at just winning outright, so I Running Shot/Pulse Wave for a single target on Super Skrull for 3-Damage with the Sky-Cycle, which would KO him and prevent him from coming back.  I need anything but a Crit Miss… I roll a “6” and “1”.  Mxy rolled a “1” at the beginning of the game for his trait, and wouldn’t you know it, he switches my attack roll to a Crit Miss!  He proceeds to KO my Sky-Cycle, and in doing so, also KO’s my Ultron Drone.  He is now up 170-123.  At this point the five-minute warning is called and I have to hurry.  He chooses to bring back the Sky-Cycle (on Click 5) and tries to Sidestep to carry Super-Skrull out of harm’s way, but I remind him that the new vehicles rules states that un-piloted vehicles cannot be given any actions unless it has the Autopilot Trait, which the Sky-Cycle does not.  So, he passes after he rolls a “2” this time for Mxy’s trait, and I have one last chance.  I push Captain America to KO himself, and I spawn a Namor close to the Sky-Cycle. I use Rick Jones to Perplex the Attack on Namor and Charge the Sky-Cycle; 11 vs. 16… I roll a “4” and a “3”, which means that even with Mxy’s dice switching, I still hit the Cycle for the KO.  Time is called immediately after and I win 173-170. Whew, that was a close game and a great one at that!
Win, 1-0.

Round 2 – Alex Blythe
(Spy Themed Team)
Fantomex 142
Nick Fury 120
Atomica 25
Blind Al 13
(300)
                Alex is a Team Strategem member from Alabama, and he is playing one of the feared archetypes of the format: Spy Theme.  He is playing BOTH Fantomex AND Nick Fury AND still has a +4 bonus to map roll.  This is a very well constructed team.  Kudos to Alex.  He obviously wins the map roll and picks Apokolips, Fantomex’s favorite map, as well as Nick Fury’s.  He starts by making an EVA and carrying Nick and Atomica as far as it can go.  I do my usual thing by using Blind Al to kick out Mxy, move the Utlron Drone to get an action token and use Rick Jones to TK Captain America after he Sidestepped and carried Atomica.  I make sure that I am 10 squares away from Nick Fury so he doesn’t turn off one of my powers.  Alex passes on Turn 2 and clears his team.

I see my opportunity and I go for it.  I push Rick Jones to TK Mxy closer to him.  I Perplex up Mxy’s Attack to an 11 and I make him a Colossal Size.  I Running Shot/Pulse Wave his three figures (now that Mxy is huge, he can see over Elevated terrain, per the new Great Size rules), while Atomica is ready with the PC.  I roll a 7 and hit everyone.  I put 2 tokens on each, and KO EVA, while dealing 1-damage each to Nick and Atomica.  I then jump into the Cycle with the Ultron Drone (pushing), then move the Sky-Cycle up towards his team, carrying Despotellis and Cowgirl.  He didn’t see the attack coming and has to change his strategy a bit because Nick now does not have his Special Power showing anymore.  He moves Fantomex, and creates an EVA and moves up.  He has to clear Nick and Atomica.

My next turn, I just repeat the process and Pulse Wave again with Mxy.  I hit, push his whole team, and KO’ing EVA again.  He has to just pass and clear again.  On my next turn, I just move up Rick Jones, along with Captain America and Atomica and clear the rest of my team.  On his next turn, he makes another EVA and moves Atomica and Nick Fury towards my force.  He turns off Mxy’s Pulse Wave power.  On my turn, I use the Sky-Cycle to get Outwit and Outwit Fury’s Special Power, giving Mxy his Pulse Wave back.  I make Mxy Colossal and again Pulse Wave everyone.  They all push again, and this time Atomica is KO’d.  I then move up Captain America, Perplex his Damage with Rick Jones to 3, and KO Nick Fury after Sidestepping into position.

After some clearing, he is able to move Fantomex backwards and KO the Cowgirl, but after some cursory moves and Pulse Waves from Mxy to freeze his team, I finish off Fantomex with a single-target Pulse Wave from the Sky-Cycle for the KO.  300-7. Win, 2-0.

Round 3 – Hugh
Vision 100
Juston Seyfert 40
Ultron Drone-8 30
Ultron Drone-14 30
Ultron Drone-1 30
Ultron Drone (Phalanx) 30
Ultron Drone (Age of Ultron) 30
Hulkbuster (Torso) 10
(300)
                Hugh is a local player who came and played with his son.  He is new to the competitive scene, but has a good understanding of the game.  His team abuses two things: the reviving of the Drones and the mobility of Vision, especially with Juston Seyfert and Vision’s trait.  He wins the map roll and we play on Pym’s Laboratory.

He slowly creeps up with the Drones and moves one so Vision gets to move up to the Torso for free.  He power actions to equip the Torso.  He then hides the Ultron-1 in a corner room where it is hard for me to get to.  I do my thing and move up the team a bit, this time opting to creep up with the Cycle.  After some cursory set-up (we both push relevant pieces) and movement from both of us, Hugh takes his shot.  He takes a shot and KO’s the Cowgirl and retreats to where all of the Ultron Drones are for safety.  I see my chance again and I send Mr. Mxy up for the all important Pulse Wave trick.  I perplex his attack up with both Blind Al and Rick Jones and Mxy is able to hit 6 of his figures and push all of them.  I use this opportunity to move the rest of my team towards the battle.  After he clears, I push Mxy to Pulse Wave again and KO only 2 of his drones (missed the others), while pushing Seyfert and Vision.  Ultron-1’s power triggers and he safely rolls for both of his Drones and they come back to life in his starting area!  This does not bode well.  I now have to use Outwit from my Cycle on his Pulse Wave from his Age of Ultron Drone.

He sets up another wave of attacks as the Drones come forward and attack.  Luckily, Mxy uses the “2” he rolled at the beginning of the game to make one of his attacks miss, and I use Atomica to PC his Age of Ultron into another miss on one Flurry attack, and he Crit Misses on his second Flurry attack, KO’ing it!  He fails to revive this one, but he eventually KO’s Captain America with his last attack from another Drone.  On my turn I have to make Mxy a Colossal and use Colossal Stamina to Pulse Wave once more, freezing his team one last time, while I set up for the following turn with my guys.  Namor then Charges in with a heavy object and KO’s another Ultron Drone, but he revives that as well!  However, since it KO’d I am able to port Despotellis next to his Ultron-1.  He then starts his wave 3 attack and hits Mxy to his last click and damages the Cycle a bit.  After I KO Ultron-1 with Despotellis, I take a shot and KO Juston Seyfert with my Sky-Cycle.  On his turn he takes a shot at Mxy with Vision, but misses.  At this point, time is called and I win, 290-7. It was a hard fought and fun game, with both sides going at it.  Hugh has a bright future if he continues playing competitively.  Win, 3-0.

Round 4 – Brett Gathings
Red Tornado 95
Red Tornado 95
Resurrection Man 92
(282)
                Brett is a semi-local player who is no stranger to the ROC Circuit.  He is a tournament player with plenty of experience and is a highly ranked player as well.  He comes in undefeated (3-0) with one of the more talked about pieces of the new set, Red Tornado.  The potential of this piece isn’t known yet, but Brett has shown at least some of it with his team, especially playing 2 of them!

He wins the map roll and we play once again on Apokolips.  Luckily for me, I have tested many, many, many games on this map so I am familiar with the plays.  His Resurrection Man powers/abilities are: Flying Transporter, Sidestep, RCE, and Toughness.  He begins by TK’ing Res Man all the way up and him moving as far as he can go.  He then sidesteps with the Tornados behind the elevated terrain by his starting area.  I do my usual thing and get Mxy and Ultron Drone set-up.  He pushes his Res Man to go Move and Attack my Cowgirl, but misses.  He then sidesteps back a bit.  He leaves the Tornados in the back.  At this point, I see that I have to go after the Tornados if I am to score any points because if he KO’s the Cowgirl, I just lose 7-0.  So, I move the whole team up and move the Cycle with Despo and Cowgirl up top tempt him to come up.  He does and TKs one Tornado up and Force Blasts Despotellis off the elevated terrain.  I use this to do the Mxy trick and freeze both Resurrection Man and Tornado.  I then attack with the Cycle, turning my miss into two “5s” (from Mxy’s trait), knocking the Tornado off the ledge.  This is huge because it prevents the other Tornado from TK’ing him back to his starting area.   He then moves his second Tornado up and Force Blasts my Despo, KO’ing it.  I use Mxy again to freeze his team a second time.  I then use the Captain America to take shots at the Tornado that is badly hurt and KO’s her.   After he clears, I use the Sky-Cycle to do a Running Shot/Pulse Wave to KO his second Tornado.

He eventually gets to Blind Al with Res Man and KO’s her.  I send Namor and Atomica to lockdown Res Man and eventually KO him the following turn.  I win, 282-50. The game is an interesting one because it forced me to come quite a bit of ways up since he Res Man is basically immune to getting KO’d and if he gets anything small, he can just win.  Win. 4-0. 

                I finish in 2^nd place after the Swiss Rounds, behind the juggernaut that is Easton Brock and his Soldier team.  We play on Sunday morning and after the Top 8 is announced, I see who I am matched up with and who’s in my bracket and Justin and I go back to the hotel to plan out a strategy for my Top 8 match, as well as potential match-ups afterwards.

Top 8 – Quarterfinals vs Collin Boettcher

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mazahs! 210
Copycat 90
(300)

Collin plays with PJ and is one of Comic Dimension’s top players.  I know he has a good pedigree so I know he will be prepared.  He wins the map roll and we go to Pym’s Laboratories. He takes Mr. Mxy with Copycat.  I have not played against Mazahs outside of sealed so I am not too familiar with the strategy, but I believe it involves smashing for 5-Damage and taking powers for the rest of the game.  He moves up with both characters separately, each on different sides of the hallway.

I decide that the best way for me to win is to keep Copycat and use my double-Outwits to lockdown Mazahs.  So, I perplex Atomica’s Defense up and move her up with Copycat to block a hallway to prevent Mazahs from coming through and smashing my team.  I copy Plasticity to do this.  He pushes on turn 2 and takes a shot Atomica; 11 vs 21.  He misses and hides in the room next to Mxy.  He pushes Mxy to get to the 2^nd click, and now I know I need to get a move on so he doesn’t start freezing me.  I kick out Rick Jones with Blind Al, and I Perplex the speed value up +3 and carry Rick Jones and Despotellis all the way up to get right in there with his team.  I push Copycat to bring Atomica to base Mxy, while Captain America sidesteps.  After he clears, I use Despotellis to Poison Mxy for 1 to get him off of the Pulse Wave (whew!).  I then copy Outwit from the Cycle with Copycat and sidestep and Outwit Mazahs’s HSS, while carrying Atomica to “block” Mazahs’s path of escape with her Plasticity (he is surrounded by walls as well).  He moves Mxy away and I latch Despo to him.  I then move the Cycle up and just lockdown Mazahs even more with double-Outwit, while Captain America and Rick Jones take shots, while he misses attacks.

I opt not to Poison Mxy back onto the Pulse Wave click, so he pushes with Mxy to get to the 4^th click, but that means that next turn Despotellis just KO’s him with his Poison.  Meanwhile, I continue to Outwit Mazahs’s Special Pulse Wave power and his Indomitable.  After some attacks from Captain America, the Cycle and even Copycat, Mazahs goes down.  Win 280-0.

Top 4 – Semi-Finals vs Howard Brock

Nick Fury 120
Banshee 98
Rick Jones 75
Pym Particles 2
(295)

Howard is the leader of Team Stratagem, and is the last member standing in the Top 8.  He has a very powerful team and I know this will be a tough one.  I win the map roll and we go to Ranx.  I know how hard it is for him to fight on this map since Nick and Banshee have a hard time seeing things, and I need time to set-up my team.  I start with my usual, but Howard starts by tunneling through all the blocking terrain with Nick and Banshee. Nothing really happens for the first few turns but we do inch up closer.

I then move the Cycle into position to latch Despotellis onto his team next turn, while having Mxy and Rick ready to rock and roll.  He takes his shot by blowing up another blocking terrain with Nick, and TK’s Banshee to take a shot at my Cycle, 11 vs 17.  After he misses his first roll, he uses Nick, rolls a “2” and “4”.  I use Mxy’s trait to turn the “4” into a “2” and he misses.  No harm, no foul.  I then use this moment to get my attack off with Myx, since he moved closer to me.  I do a Running Shot/Pulse Wave with Mxy, but miss. I use Atomica to PC… miss again.  Ok, so I don’t to freeze his team but at least I have Despo there to tie them up.  And I also KO’d his Captain America, who was tying me up.  I use Ultron to Outwit Nick’s Special Power.

On his next turn, he pushes Nick to hit my Cycle for 4 (3 after Toughness), then, Namor charges the bike for another 2, and finally Rick Jones pushes to finish off my Cycle.  Its ok, I get to use Despotellis to Poison Nick for 2.  I also get to Pulse Wave again on my turn and re-start my attack.  Mxy goes for it on a push… miss… Atomica PC… miss.  Oh boy, this will be tough.  I take a shot with Captain America on Banshee… miss… I am now at the mercy of his team.

Howard then pushes Namor to go after Atomica, but misses.  Blazing Skull comes in next and bases Atomica.  We are both missing, but the difference is he hit a key attack to KO my Cycle.  On my turn, I see an opening.  I make Captain America Colossal Size and use Colossal Stamina to hit Banshee for 2.  He KO’s then Namor comes in, who charges Banshee with a light object for 3 more damage.  Banshee is on his last click.  I try and finish him off with Rick, but again, I miss.

It’s getting close to the end, and Howard decides to make a run for it.  He gets Banshee to the other side of blocking terrain, carrying Nick. I have one chance, so I push Rick Jones to break the square of blocking terrain (perplex damage up to 3), then make Namor Giant-Size and charge into Banshee and KO him.  I then latch Despotellis to Blazing Skull.  Atomica breaks away and makes a run for it towards the rest of my team.  Time is called when Howard goes for a Hail Mary attack on Atomica.  He needs a 10 with a PC from Nick to KO Atomica and win.  Miss… and misses again.  I pull it out. Win, 98-80.

Finals vs PJ McGlaughlin

Zombie Super-Skrull 170
Copycat 90
STAR Labs Technician 33
(293)
                It turns out that PJ’s only loss was to me in Round 1, and basically stomped almost everyone on his way to the Finals.  This was the one match-up I did not want to see because of how hard it was the first time playing him.  Fortunately for me, I win the map roll again, and we go to Ranx.  He, of course, takes Mxy.  However, he gives me the side that has blocking terrain that protects the Orange Squares to he cannot attack Copy cat as easily.  The first couple of turns are the same, but this time, he doesn’t have the reach to get to Copycat.  After I kick her out with Blind Al, Copycat is on her last click.  PJ sees this and immediately jumps Mxy into the Orange Squares as well, KO’ing him in essentially one turn.

After some clearing on my side and healing on his side (he missed an end of turn roll with ZSS), I use Regeneration on Copycat so she can switch back to him.  I roll a “2.”  I then do a single target Pulse Wave to KO her and get an additional 90 points.  At this point I’m up 160-0.  He knows that he is behind and bolts for me.  I try and minimize the impact by putting Captain America and Cowgirl in the way, which helped a little, but he is still able to pull off a Running Shot/Pulse Wave on 4 of characters, hitting three of them.  He KO’s Captain America and Cowgirl, while damaging Blind Al for one.  He does this on a push and fails his end of turn roll, so he is on click 3.  I try and whittle him down by taking shots with the Cycle, Rick Jones, and Namor, but he rolls two Skrull Shapechange rolls (!) and Namor misses his attack.

On his next turn, he clears and chooses Invincible and PC.  On my turn, I push Namor to take a shot on Super Skrull.  I hit, but he decides to take the 1-damage and save his PC.  Super Skrull is now on click 4.  I use Blind Al and Rick Jones to perplex the damage on the Cycle +2, and then use Cycle to take the Attack/Damage/Range values of the Ultron Drone.  I finally take Pulse Wave from the Ultron Drone and take my one good shot on Super Skrull; the Cycle needs to redeem itself for that botched attack in Round 1.  So, here we go again; a single-target Pulse Wave for 5-Damage, with Atomica at the ready for PC.  I roll higher than a 6 and Super Skrull takes 5-Damage, KO’ing him, but more importantly preventing him from reviving (due to Pulse Wave).  He extends his hand and I win, 363-0.  I win the Greensboro, NC Super Qualifier!  My prizing haul:

*Ghost Rider LE
*Brainiac Skull Ship Colossal
*AvX OP Kit stuff
*ROC Super Qualifier Champion Plaque
*ROC Map, Hat, Dice, Tokens, 20 ROC Points
*HC:Atlas map

The tournament was fun and after some minor hiccups along the way, it was smooth.  I think everyone had a great time and it was awesome seeing this new format play out.  There were a lot of Nick Furys and Banshees, but there were only 2 Super Skrulls.  I saw a few Copycats and actually quite a bit of Shatterstars.  I think the fear of Nighthawk Prime was enough for the Shatterstars to come out.  I actually thought there would be more Fantomex, but the format is still young.  The format right now is really wide open, and I cannot wait to play in another tournament and explore the format even more.  Thanks again to Chris Gordon for running a great tournament at a great store.  I look forward to the next one.  Thanks for reading and remember, when in doubt, Perplex the Attack.