by Steve DiCarlo
Hey everyone, my name is Steve DiCarlo and I’ve had the pleasure of piloting a Quinjet at four of the 2018 Majestix Open Series events so far and winning the Fresno stop this past weekend!
Pretty much every event I went to, I had people asking me – “Why the Quinjet? It doesn’t offer the safety of the Batteries or the figure power-ups of the Phoenix Force or Pandora’s Box!” Well, there are a few reasons. The first is, I started playing during Age of Ultron, and I don’t really take the time to try out things that came out before then. I’m lazy and my primary focus over the years has been on Modern, where I’ve done pretty well for myself, making the Sweet Sixteen of my first ROC Cup and placing fifth at my first WK Nationals. The second reason is the Quinjet was the prize for my first big tournament win several years ago, so it’s pretty near and dear to my heart. And the final reason is… it doesn’t have bad match-ups!
Sure, I’ll never be able to look at a team and say “Oh, I automatically win” the way an all-Mystique team or a Thanosi with Invisible Jet on Harley’s Apartment can. But I’ve also never sat across from an opponent and thought, “there’s nothing I can do in this game.” I have plenty of Pulse Wave to get those Mystiques. I can change an ID character to include TK if I lose map against that Thanosi team. I have a bevy of attackers to take down those hard-to-kill Yellow Battery tentpole teams. Quinjet may not be a heavy favorite in every match-up, but it’s ALWAYS going to be a contender, and I like having a challenge.
So let’s go over the team and see all it has to offer!
The Team:
(Avengers Theme Team)
145 Quinjet with Resource Dial
80 Starfox
40 Jarvis
15 Eric Masterson
20 ID Cards (with three FREE): Gamma Bomb
-Wolverine
-Wolverine Bounty
-SHIELD Lvl 7
-SHIELD Lvl 7
-Thor
-Black Canary
-Green Arrow
Sideline: Wolverine 50, Wolverine 50, Hawkeye 60, Nick Fury 120, Hulk 100, Quasar 125, Thor 105, Black Canary 77, Green Arrow 80
Maps: Amok Time, Flashpoint Flood, Zipline Park
So I made two Top 8’s and one Top 4 with a Ultron Drone and Atomica-support Quinjet team, but in upwards of twenty games, I only won map three times in all three events and missed more 5’s than one could possibly imagine, so I wanted to change things up at the Fresno stop. With the Avengers theme, I have +4 to map bonus. That helped a lot; I won all but two map rolls, and one of the games I would have likely lost had it not been for my initiative bonus. I also have four Theme Team Probs, which definitely came in handy throughout the day. Not being able to call out Thor and Nick Fury when the Quinjet is tokened out was a bummer, but in the end, I didn’t really miss my beloved Ultron Drones because my Avengers got the job done!
Quinjet AOUV001
The heart and soul of this team is, of course, the Quinjet itself. This baby has a whopping 17 clicks of life, 10 of which have reducers on them… and the Quinjet reduces penetrating damage, so no fear against Shredders on those clicks! It has a special Defend on its first three clicks when I don’t pick a vehicle power, and it can also give an adjacent friendly Outwit. There’s also four different clicks of move and attack, which allow me to do some damage while I reposition my team. There’s just so much to love, even before you start to think about the Resource Dial – which lets me bring out some of Heroclix’s biggest heavy hitters as real boys who stick around until they take damage. I really can’t stress how great it is to be able to call-in a Green Arrow and real boy in a Nick Fury in the same turn. But unlike some teams, this team is just fine against Disintegration Beams and Lydea Mallor because while the Resource Dial is amazing, I can still do pretty much everything I need to do without it.
The Avengers Support:
I love Ultron. I never would have gotten into Heroclix if the very first figure I pulled wasn’t chase Ultron from a AAoU Gravity Feed. Losing Ultron Drone broke my heart, but the Avengers just had more to offer. Starfox can call in nearly all of my ID characters, and he’s FAR more difficult to kill than Ultron thanks to his Mastermind STOP click. If that wasn’t enough motivation, he also offers a +2 Perplex to anything other than damage, and if I push him, I can Sidestep and re-position my other support characters as needed. Eric Masterson can pilot the Quinjet and give it Perplex for only 15 points, which I do in every game where my opponent doesn’t have a Green Arrow ID. If they do, Starfox goes into the jet so he doesn’t get one-shotted (which is totally fine by me because Starfox gives Quinjet Sidestep and Perplex when he pilots). And Jarvis is just a no-brainer. Perplex, an un-Outwittable defense that keeps him from taking more than one damage at a time when he’s next to an Avenger, Stealth and 3 FREE ID’s for only 40 points. If Eric is piloting the Jet, opponents have to work REALLY hard to get any non-ID card points off my team. Jarvis can basically only be killed by Nick Fury or Green Arrow unless people want to waste several attacks on him, and Starfox needs to be Green Arrow’d or he’s not going anywhere. Each one of these guys pulled their weight and were essential to my undefeated showing in Fresno.
The Sideline:
My previous non-theme Quinjet build had the full 9 ID cards, and when I realized that this team only allows for 7, I was super hesitant. Quinjet teams are all about the ID’s… is it really worth losing two to gain TTPC’s, get a map boost and add a lot more Perplex? Yes. WIthout a doubt. I still got to call in Nick Fury and Green Arrow, who are undeniably two of the best attackers to be released in the past several years. I still had the Thor and Black Canary that helped me beat Emilio’s Mystique team. I had two Wolverines, who are the best 50 point characters ever and can be real boy’d in super easily. And having two less ID cards actually worked well, because it allowed me to have two options for my two SHIELD Lvl 7 ID’s. No more having any characters that were useless in particular match-ups – Hawkeye can’t do much against Yellow Battery tentpole teams. Asgardian Hulk isn’t great against swarm teams. Now I could chose which of them I needed in a particular game, and I also had access to Quasar for a bit more Pulse Wave if that seemed necessary. I never used him, but having the option was nice!
The Maps:
All three of my maps are super open, and every game I won map, I put us on Amok Time. Flashpoint Flood is just there in case I play some tentpole that can’t move through hindering, and Zipline Park is just there because I’m used to using it with my old Quinjet team (which featured two Flora’s who really loved the water terrain in the middle). I don’t really need to hide my team because when I’m on defense, Starfox has 20D thanks to his own Perplex, Jarvis has 18D thanks to the Quintjet’s Defend, the Quinjet has 19D thanks to Jarvis’ Perplex, and I have four TTPC’s. They’re all hard enough to hit, but I’m pretty fine with any of them getting hit anyway. On offense, I like everything super open so opponents can’t hide from my Nick and Green Arrow.
Round 1 VS. World’s Finest
This game was short and simple because my opponent didn’t really have a chance to plan out a team but still wanted to come play some Heroclix. First turn, I moved up all the way and did my Perplexes. World’s Finest hit my Jet, I followed it up with a Nick Fury shot for 6 straight. He attacked the Jet again, I finished him off with a shot from Green Arrow for 6 straight.
Round 2 VS. Beta Ray Bill, Starfox with Mjolnir, Groot x2, White Battery, IDs
Getting matched up against Eric Clixer was a huge bummer because he’s an awesome guy and friend, and we drove up to Fresno together. I knew all about his team, because we talked about it on the ride to Fresno, but I didn’t anticipate how perfectly he’d set up his figures. He positioned himself in a way where everyone was next to Beta Ray right from the start, so goodbye ranged attacks! I groaned and dreaded what was sure to be a tough game, but he surprisingly moved up with Starfox to pick up Mjolnir instead of TK’ing it back to him with a Catapult, leaving Starfox vulnerable to ranged attacks. I knew he’d fix this mistake the next turn, so I saw my shot and took it. Called out Green Arrow, pumped up his damage to a 5, and prayed Starfox would miss his Super Senses. He did, and I’m up on points. From then on, he had to play aggressively, and I probably should have spent more of the game running away… but I don’t like doing that with friends. So we slugged it out, with some chaotic results. I missed an easy roll to kill Groot, and his retaliation and resulting Walking Woods all beat up on the Jet for daring to attack the giant tree. He Shape Change’d out of some important rolls of mine, but critically missed some big rolls of his. In the end, the Quinjet was one successful Walking Woods attack away from death, but he couldn’t land the necessary 9. It was a close, fun game… but I knew I shouldn’t play the same way moving forward.
Round 3 VS. Uni-Mind with Ion, Nighthawk Prime, Carnage, Pandora’s Box, 3 ID’s
Nighthawk Prime is the mortal enemy of my Perplex-happy team, and Green Arrow ID is the enemy of my Starfox. I was in for a tough match, especially since the opponent was Mr. CliXso himself AND he won map. Things started out slow, with David assigning the Box to his characters and hiding behind blocking. I took the first shot I could get on Carnage with a Running Shot from my Jet, putting me in a very tiny lead. He separated Uni-Mind from his Nighthawk, and I saw a nice shot on his Nighthawk with my Battle Fury-wielding Asgardian Hulk. Unfortunately, I missed the necessary 7 and I forgot to Sidestep the Jet back to make Hulk disappear… so Uni one-shotted Hulk and David was majorly up on points. He moved Nighthawk over to Uni-Mind, and a turn later I was able to bring in Nick Fury and real boy Wolverine, so Nighthawk had no defense and died with a Flurry from Wolverine. David missed a shot on Eric Masterson thanks to my Defend and TTPC’s, I landed a shot on Uni with Green Arrow to pop him. He had to clear his Eternals, I moved up and real girl’d in Black Canary for a Pulse Wave for the win. Awesome opponent, super exciting game that came down to the very last turn.
Round 4 VS. FF Hulk 50 x2, Sam Cap, Renet TIlley, General Lane, Pandora’s Box, IDs
This was definitely my hardest game, and Box Hulks is probably my favorite team because of the sheer number of attacks it gets. There’s pretty much no way to avoid losing the Quinjet against this team, ESPECIALLY when you lose map despite your bonus of +4 to its bonus of… nothing. He assigned the Box to a Hulk and passed, I moved the Quinjet up and did all the Perplexes I always do against a team with no Green Arrow ID. He carried up Lane, Sam and a Hulk, who then Sidestepped to hit the Jet. His second Hulk ran over to hit the Jet. He then called out TItle Cap to Barrier up and protect his team from one side. I still had the angle to call out Green Arrow to kill someone, and I opted for Sam Cap… not realizing that killing a Hulk is the far better play despite it being fewer points. I rolled high enough to real boy in a Wolverine. He made me regret my failure to kill Hulk by calling in an Empower character and killing my Jet with the two Hulks. Definitely a shock, but Starfox and Wolverine were able to take out his call in, a Hulk and General Lane, so it was Renet and a Hulk versus Starfox, Jarvis and Eric. Jarvis is only taking one at a time when he’s next to Starfox, Starfox can’t die if he’s got someone to Mastermind to, just gotta play it smart. Losing Eric (who took two damage when the Jet crashed) was an inevitability, so I spent the rest of the game running around with the two remaining characters while he tried to chase me down. I took a shot or two at the Hulk with Starfox, but he rolled out of them. No further characters died, and I won on points.
Round 5 VS. Full-point Goblin King and Yellow Battery
At my last Majestix Series, I lost to a full-point Groot with un-Outwittable Shape Change, so you can just imagine how thrilled I was when I sat down against a full-point Goblin King who had the Decoy construct and picked Super Senses as one of his powers every turn. Especially after Shape Change’d out of my Green Arrow attack for six straight. Here we go again! Luckily, I learned from the mistakes of that Groot game and combo’d Nick Fury with real boy Hulk; his Battle Fury meant I could take away Senses, ensuring Hulk’s hit for 5 would stick. From there, I just needed Gobby to miss his Shape Change on Nick’s attack, which he did, allowing Nick to hit him for 5 straight. Goblin King had to try to Regen, but Hulk hit him right back to where he was before and the Quinjet called in Thor to finish him off. Thanks to the +4 Perplex potential from my support characters, Yellow Battery really isn’t a huge problem… especially with so much Prob Control!
Top 8 VS. Mistress Death, Trelane, Lockjaw, Phoenix Force
My only losses at my first two Majestix Series were against Mistress Death with Pandora’s Box teams so I definitely dread Death, but without the +2 to Attack from the Hammers, she’s not as scary. I can just Perplex up the Jet’s defense and avoid getting hit! It took Robert half the game to land an attack on the Quinjet with Mistress Death, and while that was happening, I was whittling down his team and getting three KO’s on Death herself. He eventually was able to pop the Jet, but he was so far behind on points that he had to wipe out my entire team to win. No easy task when Starfox has a STOP click and Steal Energy, Jarvis is only taking one at a time, and both can be healed with a Wolverine call-in. He tried to think of a way to pull off a win with just Death and Lockjaw remaining, but it simply wasn’t possible.
Round 4 VS. Thanosi, Stafox with Mjolnir, Kronos, Invisible Jet, Black Light Ring, Indigo Battery
Playing against my teammate Tony in the bracket was super unfortunate, especially since I didn’t include a way to bypass his Thanosi/Jet/Harley’s Apartment trick for once. If he won map, there was pretty much no way to win this match-up. He rolled a 9 on his map roll, I rolled a 9 as well… but I had a +4 to his +3! So we go to Amok Time, which is super open and thus basically the worst possible map for a team that depends on forcing opponents to maneuver around terrain. I move all the way up on my first turn, knowing he could only assign the Indigo Battery to one character before I could call Nick or Green Arrow out and kill something. He gave a construct to Starfox, so I took out Thanosi with Nick Fury. He called in Green Arrow to kill my Starfox, I called in my Green Arrow to kill his Green Arrow He takes some shots at the Jet, I called in Hulk to take out Starfox – Hulk hit him for four and then knocked him into a wall to bypass the STOP click. Tony was left with only Kronos, so he did what he could until Thor was able to fly over and finish him off.
Finals VS. Quinjet at 70, two Ultron Drones, Nighthawk Prime, Domino, Groot, Carnage, 9 IDs
The big Quinjet versus the Baby Jet in the Finals! Here was my chance to prove that I made the right Quinjet build, and that the Avengers theme was better than the Ultrons. Unfortunately, Nighthawk definitely shook things up by making my Perplexes useless, and his Green Arrow ID meant I had to throw Starfox in the Jet, depriving me of a secondary call-in battery. Yikes. I knew how I had to play this though – get rid of his 
colossals before doing anything else. I moved to his side of the map, he moved to mine, thinking that I was only going over towards him so my Wolverines would have Flurry. Nope, I just wanted to Hawkeye his Groot and Carnage! He real boy’d in The Atom right before my Hawkeye turn, which was the cherry on top because that’s more points for me to snipe. Hawkeye did his job removing the three colossals and hitting a drone… but then I got greedy and went for Domino instead of the other three easy-to-hit characters. She has Super Senses, I had Precision Strike, he only had a 1/6 chance of rolling out. He rolled the 6, so my Hawkeye was stuck and no longer able to poof himself off the map. I real boy’d in Wolverine, used him to charge and hit the Baby Jet and passed my turn, knowing exactly what was coming. He killed my Hawkeye with a Wolverine call in and real boy’d in Green Arrow, putting us pretty close on points. I killed one Drone with my Wolverine, the other with a Nick Fury call-in and then Domino with a second real boy Wolverine. His last turn was spent calling in Cyclops to hit my Nick… but he was in Stealth and Cyc can’t see through green! Cyclops had to uselessly target the Jet instead now, and his only hope was for Green Arrow to crit hit Nick, because he couldn’t get to the six damage needed to kill him otherwise. He didn’t roll high enough and I won the Fresno stop!
