by David Ellis

Hey everyone its David Ellis coming to you from Portland Oregon with my first of hopefully many tournament reports to come. Specifically the Brother’s Prob ROC Super Qualifier in Roseburg Oregon! Before I get into my game by game analysis; I’d like to take a minute and give some rational behind my build and how it works. For those of you that haven’t seen the team in question, here it is:

The Team
(X-Men Theme)
150 AoA Magneto
140 Jakeem Thunder 
8 X-Men: Gold ATA (x2)
2 Pym Particles 
300

As it seems to be the case across most of the recent competitive tournaments, you’re probably left thinking; “Great, just another take on a Jakeem team”, but wait there’s more. Unlike many Jakeem builds, my team featured Jakeem as the greatest taxi/support piece in all of Heroclix. So here’s a little breakdown of the general workings of the team. To start with; I utilize Magneto’s trait Creator of the X-Men In This Reality in order to grant Jakeem the X-men keyword during force construction, and assign them both the X-men Gold ATA. Before the game gets started, I have a +2 to initiative role, which as you’ll see can play a big role in deciding a game for a team built around Magneto. Once we get the festivities under way Magneto equips the Pym Particles in order to go tiny, so Jakeem can carry him. After that I kept Jakeem and Magneto adjacent, so Magneto could roll for his Leadership and potentially free up Jakeem to do his thing. After equipping the Pym Particles, Magneto would use his trait The Entire World IS Dead Dreams And Scrap in order to destroy some walls or printed blocking terrain. At this point it was largely a game of sidestep carrying by Jakeem, and picking defensive powers until an opportunity to start hurling scrap metal markers presented itself.  

My main rational behind playing this team was Jakeem and Magneto’s dial depth against other Jakeem/Krang builds and their typically rather soft support pieces. The X-men Gold ATA was particularly useful against Krang builds, as it took away Krang’s ability to gain stat buffs from going Giant or Colossal. For those of you unfamiliar with the X-men Gold ATA it goes as follows; “Once per turn, give a character using this team ability a free action when it is adjacent to a friendly character using this team ability and choose an opposing character within 6 squares and line of fire. The chosen character’s combat values can’t be modified until your next turn.”

As many of you know, this ROC was part of the ROC Super Qualifier Circuit culminating in the $1k Regional event at Majestix in April. Everyone round we had one featured match on high quality video that should be getting uploaded to the Majestic YouTube page soon, and I was fortunate enough to make it onto two of these featured matches, so I’ll touch on those matches but for a more in depth look, go check out the videos. Without any further ado; let’s get into my match by match analysis.

Round 1 – Willy Howe

Devil Dinosaur 100
Hellcow 50
Swarm 125
Fast Forces Domino 25
300

Immediately upon sitting down, and looking at Willy’s team I knew it would be my favorite build of any team I saw that day. The amount of STOP clicks, and Swarm’s trait which essentially turns every click into a STOP click; I knew this was going to be a long game. After a little setup from both of us in turn one, I chose to Hypersonic-Precision Strike his Domino with Jakeem and set Magneto down to make two scrap metal attacks as a free action in order to KO Hellcow. From there it was a game of avoiding his seemingly endless wave of pogs, and posting up next to Swarm with Jakeem in order to slowly Poison him to death, as Magneto slowly hurled scrap metal at Devil Dinosaur to riddle through his stop clicks. Overall a good start to the day, as I was able to escape with a full point win.

Round 2 – Brian Smith

(Mystical Theme)
Jakeem Thunder 140
Johnny Thunder 75
Green Lantern 35
Green Lantern 35
Symbiote 7
Pym Particles 2
All-Star Squadron ata (x3) 6
299 

Do you ever have that one player that no matter what tournament you’re in, you end up getting matched up with them? Well, that’s who Strike Force Five’s Brain Smith is for me. He knew my team from the previous ROC his team hosted, and had a plan for me. He had a +4 initiative roll to try and take me to Crossfire Canyon (an anti-Magneto map I’ll touch on later in the report). Well, he rolled a three on initiative, and I had his team step into my office, Wizkid’s Office map that is. The game went as follows; turn one I put Pym Particles on Magneto, He positioned his team to equip his items. Turn two I sidestep carried with Jakeem and cleared while he equipped items. Turn three I picked phasing/invincible with Jakeem and carried Magneto in who removed his scrap metal and hit Johnny Thunder for five, then one of his Green Lanterns for four; KO’ing both of them. Brain then chose outwit/flurry with his Jakeem and in one turn KO’d my Magneto. I was awestruck as that had never happened before, but I saw an opportunity. I choose perplex and flurry (forgetting that his Jakeem had shape change), perplexed my Jakeem’s attack and flurried his Jakeem to death. I was incredibly fortunate that he missed both of his shape change rolls. We cleared, I KO’d his one remaining Green Lantern and we grabbed lunch. It’s always a pleasure playing Brian, but our games never last more than a few rounds.

Round 3 – Jordan Beers

(Justice Society Theme)
Jakeem Thunder 140
Green Lantern 35
Green Lantern 35
Black Canary 77
Weapons Drop 8
All-Star Squadron ata (x2) 4
299

Round three lead me to another familiar face in Brothers Prob’s own Jordan Beers; the first player I ever played against in a major constructed tournament, and the player to knock me out of my first ever top four. Upon looking at his team I knew that there was going to be a lot of single target Pulse Waves in my future if I wasn’t careful. He won initiative and took us to the Wizkid’s Office map, or as I like to call it; Magneto’s playground. After getting our items equipped, scrap metal markers attached, and a little bit of turtling; we finally started jockeying for position. Eventually Jordan got the pulse wave click on his weapons drop which was attached to Jakeem, and he started moving in on me. He sat his Green Lanterns eight squares and his Barriers 7 away which presented an opportunity for me. I chose Charge/Invincible with Jakeem and Sidestep-Charged up carrying Magneto, and destroying one of his Barrier markers in the process. Magneto then Sidestepped into the rubble and removed his scrap metal markers to make two attacks KO’ing both of his Green Lanterns in one turn. Next turn Jordan hit Magneto with a single target Pulse Wave with Black Canary and fortunately for me, missed his attack with his Jakeem Thunder. A few Outwits and Precision Strikes Later I took out Black Canary just before last round was called. I positioned myself in the corner and Jordan Hypersonic me and needed to roll a nine to KO Magneto on his ESD clicks. Jordan rolled an eight, Probbed it, and rolled an eight again and that was the game.

Round 4 – Vince Gentile

(Mystical Theme)
Jakeem Thunder 140
Shredder clone + Ocean Resurrection 85
Green Lantern 35
Apprentice 25
Hulkbuster Torso 10
Diplomatic Immunity ata (shredder clone) 5
300

Round four matched me up against Brothers Prob’s Vince Gentile, and was my first featured match of the day (so go check it out on the Majestix YouTube page). Vince won initiative and took us to the Courtyard map which was my first time ever seeing it, but it had plenty of blocking for Magneto to do his thing. The first few rounds consisted mostly of us getting set up and waiting for the other one to make the first move. Eventually Vince brought his Jakeem and Clone to the middle of the map so I chose phasing/invincible and went to work on his apprentice and Green Lantern with Magneto’s scrap metal. By the end of the following turn I KO’d both of those two pieces and Jakeem phased himself and Magneto to a room across the map. At this point I was up on points and Vince was left having to chase me which he did, and allowed me to get off four attacks in one turn in order to KO his Shredder Clone and ensuing Shark Shredder. For those of you wondering how I got four attacks off; I used Magneto’s two scrap markers, then Sidestepped away to make a range combat attack and finally Jakeem hit him for the finishing blow. After a little more positioning between the two of us, and Magneto being on his late dial Pulse Wave clicks, I was able to get off two single target Pulse Waves, and take out his Jakeem in one turn. Overall a great game, and at this point I knew 4-0 was good enough to crack the top eight especially with the extra points I got off of Shark Shredder.

Round 5 – The Aubrey Waltman

(Mystical Theme)
Jakeem Thunder 140
Klarion the Witchboy 70
Green Lantern 35
Green Lantern 35
Black Cat 13
Symbiote 6
299 

Round five squared me up against my buddy Aubrey Waltman from Strike Force Five (I think it’s about time you guys make him an official member). Aubrey was running the exact same team Cory Henry won the Pacific Northwest Classic ROC Super Qualifier with, and knocked my team out top eight in the first round, so needless to say I knew how things were going to go. Aubrey won initiative with a +5 to map roll, and took us to Crossfire Canyon. See, Crossfire Canyon has zero walls or printed blocking, so Magneto wasn’t about to get any of his scrap metal markers, and I was forced to flip the script and use Jakeem as my primary attacker. I had one last trick up my sleeve for this exact situation, but I wanted to save it for the top eight. I rushed in there with Jakeem, KO’d one of his Green Lanterns and Aubrey made short work of my team, resulting in my only loss of the day and Aubrey taking first in Swiss play.

Top 8 – Andre Juarez

(Justice Society Theme)
Jakeem Thunder 140
Flash 35
Flash 35
Green Lantern 35
Green Lantern 35
Symbiote 6
Pym Particles 2
All-Star Squadron ata (x4) 8
296 

After taking third in Swiss, and Andre taking sixth; we were paired up for our first single elimination game in top eight. As a member of Strike Force Five; Andre also brought a Jakeem team with a high initiative bonus, and took us to Crossfire Canyon, but I had saved one trick for this exact situation. After a few turns of Setting up our figures and equipping our special objects (he put the Symbiote on Jakeem and Pym Particles on a Green Lantern to make him tiny), we eventually inched closer to one another. He left a Flash out in the open so I Running Shot hit him with Jakeem thinking he was only four clicks, but turns out he’s five clicks deep. I TK’d Jakeem back with Magneto, and tried for form a new plan. Andre got a little aggressive and took a shot with his Jakeem which hit my Jakeem for two; then put down some light wall markers with his Green Lanterns which gave me an opportunity. See with Magneto’s trait, he can destroy walls or printed blocking terrain. Since Wizkids ruled that the light walls acted as walls for all game effects I was able to destroy them for scrap metal markers, and Jakeem regenerated to top click while Andre’s Jakeem was stacked. I was able to KO two of Andre’s Flashes and one of his Green Lanterns which forced him to Hypersonic across the map to me. I knew time was getting low, so I Outwitted his flight with my damaged Magneto, and phased across the map with Jakeem forcing him to target my Jakeem that was on click two. Time got called, and that was by far the one game that kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time. Crossfire Canyon was a lot for my team to overcome.

Top 4 – Brian Smith

(Mystical Theme)
Jakeem Thunder 140
Johnny Thunder 75
Green Lantern 35
Green Lantern 35
Symbiote 7
Pym Particles 2
All-Star Squadron ata (x3) 6
299

In the Top four I was once again paired up with Brian Smith, and he was back with a vengeance. After defeating a good friend of mine, and fifth place player Chip Barnett; Brian wasn’t messing around. This time he won initiative and took us right back to Crossfire Canyon. This time though my trick of blowing up light walls with Magneto wouldn’t be as effective as Brian knew better. As always we started off equipping items and setting ourselves up. Truth be told I didn’t have much of a strategy for this until a Hail Mary of an opportunity presented itself. Bryan set up one of his Green Lanterns exactly 10 squares from Jakeem and Magneto behind some blocking, so I shot out the blocking with Magneto, and Jakeem did a Running Shot/invincible combo needing a 10 to hit his Green Lantern through his JSA team ability, ESD and hindering bonus. I missed the first shot, Probbed it and somehow rolled exactly a ten. One Green Lantern was gone and I was up on points. Brian responded with a creative move of successfully Running Shot-Mind Controlling my Jakeem and who then crit-missed and took one damage for trying to hit my Magneto. I knew at this point I was up on points, and I was going to make Brian come to me. He did just that, but he set his Jakeem in a position for a single target Pulse Wave and I went for it. His Jakeem was on click six, his Johnny Thunder kept rolling ones, and his Regen rolls with Jakeem were never higher than a three. A couple attempts at single target Pulse Waves later, and his Jakeem was KO’d leaving his Green Lantern and Johnny Thunder as easy pickings for my Magneto and Jakeem. I have to hand it to Brian for playing one hell of a game.

Finals – Bryan Dormaier

Krang 170
Juston Seyfert 40
Baxter Stockman 30
Green Lantern 35
Wiz Kid 25
300

After two grueling matches in Crossfire Canyon I met a good friend of mine, and local playtest buddy Bryan Dormaier in the Finals. Bryan is one of the guys that has shown me the ropes of Heroclix, as I’ve only been playing the game for a little over a year. Definitely the guy I would have been the rooting for if I hadn’t been sitting across the table from him. As elated as I was to be playing one of my friends in the finals, I knew Bryan was not to be taken lightly with his very unique interpretation of the Krang build. I won initiative roll and took us to the Wizkids Office even though I knew full well that the Office map was Bryan’s go to map as well. We started by equipping items and slowly creeping our way up. I was hesitant to make the first move, because with Krang’s stat buffs and Juston’s free action to move, he could reach me from just about anywhere on the map. Eventually he moved into a side room and very strategically placed his team in order to keep Magneto from being as effective as he can be. I ended up shooting out a wall to get in there after his Green Lantern put a Barrier in the closest entrance to me. I figured he would clear, and boy was I wrong. He went Colossal and marched out to hit Jakeem for six, three after Invincible. Then went back into his room and decided to see what I would do. I took a calculated risk with Jakeem and Regenerated to top click, knowing if I didn’t get back to top click his would Colossal push and finish off Jakeem. Luckily I rolled a six. Understanding how frustrating that was for Brian, he cleared his team. I picked Hypersonic Speed and Precision Strike, and took out his Juston in one turn. I set down my Magneto who removed some scrap to KO his Green Lantern and tag his Krang with the X-men Gold ata, thus taking away his stat bonuses from his trait, Baxter Stockman and Wizkid. Bryan hit my Jakeem for four, and it was back to me. I loaded up Magneto with his scrap markers, sidestep broke away from Krang and KO’d Baxter and Wizkid with my scrap metal markers. At this point Jakeem phased himself and Magneto out of there and forced Krang to come to me. After regrouping I blew out some walls with Magneto, Jakeem picked Penetrating Psychic Blast, and slowly wore down Krang as I tagged him with the X-men Gold ata every turn. I had finally done it and won the big one with Magneto. I have to give major props to Bryan, because that was my favorite match of the day, and I would highly recommend that everyone watches it on the Majestix YouTube Page when it gets posted.

I have to give a big shout out and thanks to The Brothers Prob for hosting this Super Qualifier, especially Johnnie Alvarado for judging and Robert Sedani for donating so much of his personal collection for prize support and helping finance the event. I also have to thank Patrick for coming up and running/Judge the event. And finally a big shout out to my Portland play testing group; Chip Barnett, Bryan Dormaier, Mike Warren and my partner in crime Andrew Gonser.