Tournament Report – 2017 ROC World Cup – Daniel Powell

 by Daniel Powell

ROC World Cup is always a great weekend and this year was no different. Prep time was narrower than normal for this event as The Mighty Thor just dropped mid-August and only two major events (Canada and Big Bang Regional) happened where the set was legal. Both of these events were won by King Jakeem but the swell of chatter online was behind Cosmic being of Uni-Mind. With several choices to make and many hours of play-testing and tweaks with support from team-mates I settled on the following team for Finals.

The Team

Uni-Mind w/Supreme Intelligence
-Forged in Blue Flame x3
-Sersi, Makkari, Thena Sidelined
Atom Retaliator
Carnage Retaliator
Nighthawk Prime
Symbiote Object
2x Shield Level 7 ID
Nightwing ID
Green Arrow ID
Boxing Ring
Sideline for IDs-
Nick Fury 056, TMT Shield Hulk, ADW Chase Hawkeye, LE Green Arrow, EW Chase Green Arrow, Nightwing LE
Maps – Underground, Crossfire Canyon, Remote Outpost on the Mexican Border

Every Game Element on my team was chose for a reason which I’ll break down below versus the other choice I decided against.

Uni-mind over Jakeem

Uni-Mind has access to more powerful standard powers together while being able to Buff IDs with his +2 Perplex x2. Jakeem cannot maintain this power set with currently available enhancements. This is on-top of switching to more defensive powers on my opponents turn.

Eternal Choices of Sersi, Makkari, Thena.

Simply more powerful standard power choices top dial than the other eternals from TMT. Most important for me personally Probability Control from Makkari!

Supreme Intelligence over Teleporter

Two Distinct Reasons for SI:

  1. This mobility advantage was “Supreme” over a Teleporter Uni-Mind in advancement.
  2. Sideline Space – Not using the teleporter opened up my sideline to have multiple great figures per ID instead of one per ID.

SI was never clicked above Click #1 for the 9 rounds.

Symbiote Object

I chose the Symbiote for the following reason. Mobility, Tie-up and Shape Change. I never once rolled for the additional +1 combat values. With my goal being ID battery this was chosen over other objects that make Uni-Mind more offensive himself.

Carnage

SIDESTEP! Pogs! 10pts, what’s not to love?

Atom over another Carnage/ID-

SIDESTEP! My team only had 4 characters so couldn’t fit a 5th ID card and a Carnage. Indomitable on Atom gave me significant two turn mobility/carry advantage in testing over Carnages that lack indom.

Nighthawk over MWAM or low point Goblin King

SIDESTEP! Additionally, this boiled down to Nighthawk is always on versus Merc With a Mouth, and gives me an Outwit and has a longer dial than Goblin King.

2x Shield Level 7s

Back to the advantage over the Teleporter.  What’s better than Pocket Nick Fury? Getting Nick Fury and Chase Hawkeye or TMT Shield Hulk.

Nightwing with the LE and Green Arrow with the Chase and the LE

No explanation needed here.

Boxing Ring

Protected my initial move-up. A must-play.

Now for a quick rundown of my 9 matches which I was lucky enough to exit out of undefeated.

Swiss Round 1 Round versus Kevin Afrooz (Uni-Mind/Nighthawk/teleporter) –

Round one and a great competitor. This initial round came down to I can get more points out of Kevins team than he could mine. After picking off his support I based his Uni-mind with my own and locked him down with Plasticity while my Nighthawk stayed safe out of reach.

100-30; Win

Swiss Round Two versus Dustin Horad (Jakeem/Teleporter/Overdrive)

Another great competitor and good friend, unfortunately for Dustin I rolled two fives on my initial Nick Fury Shot moving him away from his support crew. Uni-mind finished Jakeem next turn and it was cleanup from there.

Full point Win

Swiss Round Three versus Steve McColgan (Jakeem/SI/Ironheart/Joker)

I greatly benefitted from winning map and going to Crossfire Canyon. Turn one was a move up into the ring. Turn Two saw Chase Hawkeye take out retaliators and wounding Jakeem. Turn Three Nick Fury polished off Jakeem. Clean up from there.

Full point Win

Swiss Round Four versus Adam Friedman. (Uni-Mind/Teleporter/Nighthawk)

At this point Adam and I were both in to Top 32. Adam and I both used this round to learn different tactics in the mirror match. In the end I popped Adam’s Uni-Mind.

500+ point Win

Top 32 versus Bob Murdoch (Mangog/SI/Nighthawk/Carnage/ID)

This was definitely my toughest match of the day and the one I had prepared the least for. I knew I had to go after Bob’s support crew and avoid Mangog. Mangog preceded to pull the Odin Sword and preceded to chase me around the office with his deep dial and colossal stamina. Fortunately I kept Mangog at bay with positioning on the map to avoid Chase Green Arrow.

115-100; Win.

Top 16 versus Brett Mann (Devil Dino/Red Leader Prime/Haha Joker/Mini Shred/IDs)

Back to Crossfire Canyon. Brett had taken a similar build to two State wins earlier this season and was not one to be underestimated. Turn Two had Hawkeye dealing damage to his entire team and KO’ing Red Leader. A fortunate Shapechange against a Cosmic Spider-Man kept Uni-mind off his last click the next turn. All 4 IDs were needed in this game to finish the Giant Dino and double-tap Mini Shredder. Brett was a great player and hope to see more from him in the future.

Top 8 versus Kyle Cooney (Uni-Mind/Jean/Haha Joker/Teleporter)

I drove 6 hours a matchup I could’ve had any Thursday night at Big Bang. Kyle is a great friend and Teammate. This match boiled down to my Hulk smashing Jean Grey early and keeping Nighthawk outside from Kyle’s Hulk’s smashing range.

Top 4 versus Lane Miller (An Exact Mirror Match to my team)

Another Teammate! Lane and I had met up a few weeks prior to test and tweak our teams and settled on playing the same build. Of note Lane had The Park from Grid Reality and I had Crossfire Canyon as our only differences. This match is available on the Twitch Stream. It boiled down to one misposition from Lane that allowed Hulk to smash Lane’s Nighthawk. A couple of rollouts on my end from Nighthawk sealed the deal.

Finals!

Top 2 Versus Easton Brock. (Uni/Nighthawk/Carnages/Teleporter)

What an intense match! I lost my colossal retaliators early and missed shots on Easton’s. Easton rolled out with Super Senses on the Hulk smash on Nighthawk (Spidey Inspiration). Further back and forth saw both our Nighthawks and Easton’s retaliators perish. A score check showed I was 5 points behind with seemingly no points left. Easton had a Hulkbuster Torso left unequipped on the board. After a TK and some Side-stepping to be ready to TK the object again. Easton moved to safe position outside my printed 10-Range. Perplexing Uni-Minds range allowed Uni the reach to TK the Hulkbuster Torso.

A 5pt Victory and likely the only time a missed attack has won that same person a World Championship.

I have many thanks to pass around but will keep it succinct. Many Thanks to my lovely wife Sam who supports me in every aspect of life and has my whole heart. Thanks to my Clixed Off Teammates who help me practice every week and chat about all parts of the game 24 hours a day. Thanks to Howard and Pat for running a smooth event all weekend. And a final thanks to the listeners of the Clixed Off Podcast, you guys make all this worth doing day in and out.