by Esteban Limon
Upon entering the Heroes Throwdown Grand Prix 2020, I have been playing for fourteen years, but I had not played in a high level event like this. I entered the Grand Prix figuring it was a good opportunity to try to play for a Q Prime, and then I saw who was competing. Needless to say, I was slightly overwhelmed seeing the names of some of the best players in the game participating in the tournament. I decided to play a non-theme team that did fairly well in a ROC Online Qualifier. This team consisted of:
Immortal Hulk equipped with Octopus Arms
XDPS 011b Magneto
XDPS 043b Mister Sinister
XDPS G015 Magneto
JLU 058 Ace
Exospex
Originally I had Lockjaw on this team, but I dropped him because of how easily he was to take out with the high amount of attacks or free damage dealt in the current metagame. Similarly, I decided to remove Exospex since certain teams can destroy them on the first turn in favor of Influence Ring, Liar Ring and the Stark Tower location bonus to generate Bolt.
Immortal Hulk was the primary attacker since he could combine Flurry from the Octopus Arms with his free Charge from the Vengeance tokens, giving him potentially four attacks in a turn. My initial problem was getting Hulk activated without having to push him, and this is where the Influence ring came in handy. To try to maximize the number of Vengeance tokens, I played the Magneto and Mister Sinister due to their longevity. Magneto’s main objective was to ping the characters with only one click of life or use his Force Blast to knock characters into blocking or off elevated. Mister Sinister’s mobility, along with the Influence Ring, served a similar purpose to take advantage of knockback damage. I seldom used Liar Ring unless my Influence Ring was taken, but the potential for ten range Mind Control is nice. G015 Magneto was used for Leadership and position Hulk to Charge depending on the map. Ace removed opposing Probability Control outside of theme teams, in addition to Perplex, Probability, Barrier, Shape Change, and her Mind Control power was helpful at times to decrease the attack of the main attackers. This team was designed to minimize the amount of points my opponent can score and having the ability to deal enough damage to put me in a position to win.
I was placed in Pod M with three excellent players: MattyG, Colin B., and John N. My goal was to try to win hopefully two games. The first game was against Matt, who played a Hellfire Club team with the ability to attack with Exodus across the map and damaged my whole team turn 2. Then his DR Magneto cleaned up my Magneto and Sinister with Pulse Wave and knockback damage. This game came down to the last turn with Hulk missing some crucial attacks after I pushed to my protected outwit dial after he outwitted my Charge. 180-100, 0-1.
The second game Colin played a Justice League team with the prime Batman, a bunch of Dr. Fates and two Billy Batson. He kept Hulk in check majority of the game and finished off my Ace turn two with the JLU starter Superman/Martian Manhunter combo. Hulk countered by Flurrying Superman and Magneto focused on his support figures. I was able to slowly clear his team, 300-135. 1-1.
The final game was against John N., who played an Avengers theme team with Black Widow chase, Rescue, Shifting Focus Widow, and Happy Hogan. After a failed alpha strike by Hulk and my poor placement, John masterfully KO’d my Magneto and Sinister with Rescue. The only figures I was able to score was Hogan and Rescue losing 175-100. With this loss I figured I was eliminated from the tournament, but outside of Matty G, each of us ended up 1-2 and I placed second by a total of three points making it to single elimination.
Entering single elimination as the twenty sixth seed, the bracket I was placed in was stacked and I felt my chances of winning were low. The first match was a rematch against Matty G, and similar to the first game, it came down to the last turn. I was able to avoid the alpha strike from Exodus this game. After a string of misses, Ace hit a Mind Control to target 011b Magneto needing a nine, then he knocked out two of his G015 Magneto, tying the game at 50 to 50. I lucked out and won the roll off.
Top Sixteen was against Dan Powell, playing an Avengers theme team with ultra-chase Captain Marvel, ISAAC, Steve Rogers, chase Thor with Nightbringer Ring. I knew this match was going to be tough. He won map and chose Stark Tower. I placed Hulk in a position to Flurry his Thor putting him on his last click, and then finished him off the subsequent turn. I was able to score Steve and ISAAC, but I lost G015 Magneto, Ace and Firestorm. The final score was 180-125.
In the Top 8 I played against Wes Summers, who I played a practice game with a couple days before and he wrecked my team with an incredible Sentinel team. He decided to play on Ancient Hold and surprised me on the first turn by taking the Influence Ring, making it difficult to activate Hulk. This was one of the few games I used Liar Ring, which gave Mister Sinister the ability to Mind Control. I was able to knock out his Tri-sentinels, Cyclops Sentinel, Latverian Engineers and one Sentinel he generated. The final score was 175-125, being the first to knock out my Immortal Hulk along with G015 Magneto.
My next opponent was the reigning U.S. National Champion, Patrick Frazier. His team consisted of Chase Black Widow, Shifting Focus Black Widow, Happy Hogan and Captain Marvel, which is quite a formidable team. Choosing the Wakanda Earth X Map, he was able to score my Liar Rring and then I was able to counter by knocking out his Happy Hogan. Patrick was able to spin Hulk twice the following turn and I was getting nervous. The next turn he missed a Super Senses roll when Hulk attacked SF Black Widow, thus knocking her out. For the second game Hulk was finished off, but I was able to score a Widow Recruit by Sinister knocking her off elevated and avoided a critical miss with G015 Magneto on the final roll of the game. The final score was 130-105.
My final game was against the undefeated and number one seed in the Grand Prix, Lucas Van Holland. Piloting a similar Immortal Hulk build, he included Tri-Sentinel, Dark Phoenix, Eitri and Wendigo, which made it difficult to avoid giving his Hulk Vengeance tokens. This was definitely a back and forth game throughout the match. Early on I scored Wendigo and Tri-Sentinel, then he was able to spin Immortal Hulk and knockout G015 Magneto after equipping Eitri with Influence Ring to activate his Hulk and token’d my team with Dark Phoenix’s retaliation. With Hulk back on click one my options were limited, and the next few turns made the game seem nearly out of reach as I missed nine attacks calling out three Troubalerts that he later scored. Overcoming the misses, I finished off Ace and Eitri with Hulk and Super Friends Wonder Woman, and then my Ace Mind controlled his Hulk to knock out Dark Phoenix, giving him an Insanity token reducing his attack for the next turn. Lucas missed one of his Flurry attacks against Wonder Woman dealing his Hulk a penetrating damage to put him back to click one. Shortly after time was called, the final score was 225-155, and was easily one of the most exciting games I have played.
Before the championship match Lucas gave me the nickname “Dark Horse” only if I was able to win the tournament and somehow I managed to overcome some of the best players in the game to win the Grand Prix 2020. Considering that I was the twenty sixth seed and only had one win, I did not think I would win this event, so I think it is an appropriate nickname. I want to thank Julio for running an amazing tournament, and to those who helped me strategize and the players that encouraged me as I was progressing through the event. I am not sure I will be able to pull off a run like I did at the Grand Prix again, but it will be one of my most memorable heroclix experiences and I hope to play in similar events in the future.
