by Cory Henry

Hey guys it’s Cory Henry from team Strike Force 5 back again to bring you another tournament report , this time from the Pacific Northwest Classic ROC Super Qualifier! Before I get into the actual tournament id like to share some of the reasoning behind the choices that I made in my teams construction . For those that haven’t seen the aforementioned  build yet here it is:

The Team
(Mystical Theme)
140 Jakeem Thunder 
70Klarion the witch boy
35 Green Lantern 
35 Green Lantern 
13 Black Cat
6 Symbiote
299

I know your thinking it …”Yeah we get it just another Jakeem team”… Well you’re kinda right, but there is a little more to unpack .. So we all know what Jakeem’s purpose is; he’s the big hitter. His versatility and the ability to adapt is currently unmatched in the Limited format, which is why I knew a lot of top players would end up playing him (Out of 6 teams playing Jakeem that tournament 4 made the Top 8, the two that didn’t were in “win and in” situations in the final round vs other Jakeem players ).

So I figured the best way to beat Jakeem… is play Jakeem . Match versatility against versatility. The plan is a little more complex; that’s where the importance of theme comes in . I had a +5 to theme which would most of the time would  give me the map that I wanted (the  Blue Line mostly, or Wizkids Office in certain situations where I wanted to be more aggressive). Now what goes great with those super close quarter maps? Barrier. In particular, FREE Barrier letting me duck and dodge shots while my opponent try’s to work around them .  The 35pt Green Lanterns fit that criteria incredibly well.  Add in the fact that the Barriers and light wall markers give -1 to adjacent opposing defenses and  he can share Jakeem’s defense via JSA makes these must plays for the strategy I wanted to employ  . To round out the team is Klarion and Black Cat . Klarion has proven to be one of the best pieces in the Limited format time in and time out; the fact he essentially gives Prob, Perplex, two attackers and the Mystics TA make an easy addition. Now comes Black Cat. The majority of the reason he is on this team is to add +1 to theme in all reality . I would also carry it with Jakeem and place it accordingly if I was concerned about a single target Pulse Wave. Whatever free annoyance he might add was all icing on the cake. Last but not least Symbiote. Symbiote allowed Jakeem two extra powers: Plasticity, to stop Hypersonic attacks if they are able to maneuver around or blow up Barriers first, and Shapechange to add an additional defense mechanism (even if I did forget to use it in the Finals, but most of us lose a little sharpness by Round 8) and again the added effect of auto breakaway and the d6 roll was more icing .

Now as many of you know by now this was the first of four feeder Super Qualifiers for the Majestix $1k Regional in April (which I am now attending), so we got a lot of top notch film coverage of the event, which 3 of my matches were recorded so I won’t go touch into those except a few footnotes . So I’ll go ahead and get into it !

Round 1 – Steven Vick

Spider Gwen
Handstand Spider-Man
Old Man Spider
Spider-Man Family ATA (x3)
Hulkbuster Torso
Symbiote

This happened to be the round one feature match, it was by far my worst game, mistakes I didn’t catch and misplays ended up doing me in as well as my mistiming of his approach really put me on tilt very early. I was able to KO his Old Man Spider, but only after he was able to port right in my face disrupting my entire game plan, I tried to bring down his handstand Spidey with the Hulkbuster Torso, but the inability to use Precision Strike would prove that endeavor fruitless turn after turn. In the meantime he was able to take out Black Cat, and started working on Klarion and eventually was able to take him out with Gwen and Spidey with help from “call in help from the spider verse” trait and about 30 seconds after he’s KO’d time was called … Extremely sloppy and rough start to the event ending in a close loss 83-79.

Round 2 – Jordan Beers

(Warrior Theme)
Koriand’r x2
Shredder Clone w/Ocean Resurrection
Red Hood and the Outlaws ATA
Sideline : Shark Shredder

Jordan has proved to be one of the best players in the Pacific Northwest time and time again and I knew the team very well because my team and I had discussed it upon release of the Shredder’s Return set. I win map (Wizkids Office), he moves into position, and I try to single out one of his Koriand’rs that is split from the other two . I Hypersonic with Jakeem and hit and phase with Klarion, pop off Teekl and Charge/BCF her for the KO. He moves up to attack one of my Green Lanterns with the other Kori and crit misses.. then  he Sidesteps with Shredder, dealing Green Lantern 1-damage. The next turn we clear and I pop Teekl back to Klarion , then I proceed to follow the same formula for the other Kori, this time it manages to leave her with two clicks left. He’s able to move up Shredder and do some more damage knocking out Teekl and moves Kori back some . Next turn I’m able to take her out,and the Green Lantern that Shredder chose for his “duel of twisted honor” is able to get a hit in on him. He attempts to Sidestep break away and fails and it’s back to me, I pick Poison with Jakeem and Sidestep next to him and hit with Jakeem bringing out Shark Shredder and I’m able to KO him the next turn. I felt pretty bad about this one Jordan’s dice kind of hated him in that game and my Probs did not help the issue at all but I move to 1-1 and score 342 points because of the KO on Shark Shredder.

Round 3 – Jayson Devaney

(Mystical Theme)
Jakeem Thunder
Klarion the Witch-Boy
Wiccan

Now it always sucks having to play a teammate, especially one playing a very similar team. I win the map choosing Wizkids Office; this decision went against my initial plan of picking the Blue Line, and it proved to make the game much more difficult. We both take a few turns positioning in hiding spots up the map and I attach Symbiote, then I finally make the first strike hitting his Jakeem, but he’s able to support all the damage back with Wiccan, so back to square one. So I Sidestep up and we both clear the next turn and I pick Hypersonic/Steal Energy, Perplexing up Jakeem’s Damage to 5 and one shot his Wiccan, but because of the larger area to cover with the Green Lanterns on the Office he’s able to find and opening and KO a Lantern with Jakeem. From that point we just started trading KO for KO, I one-shot Klarion, he KOs my other Lantern and eventually it’s just Jakeem vs Jakeem and both in our second clicks. Luckily for me I’m barely ahead on points and  have the Symbiote. Unluckily for me I had to clear and Sidestep and he was just in range to Running Shot/Pulse Wave hurting me quite a bit. The next turn I Sidestep back more trying to make him make a decision if he would push and Running Shot, needing an 8 or clear and the next turn I’m able to be out of that range, so he decides to take the big shot, missing and Probs into a crit miss…. The next turn I phase back away and Sidestep, he clears, then I proceed to Regen rolling a 6!! Time is called on his turn and he just isn’t able to get to me … Like I said before I made this game much harder on myself by going against my strategy of picking the Blue Line but I was able to grind it out , getting a little lucky against a great opponent and teammate and learning a lot  from it. 2-1.

Round 4 – Chip Barnett

Krang
Juston Seyfert
Nighthawk Prime
Night Nurse

Chip is another one of the best in the Northwest and is always in the running to win it all,and he proved it again this time placing in the Top 4, but I’m getting ahead of myself. This particular match would be tough knowing two attacks would be coming from Krang. He can duck and dodge as well as I’m able to so I pick Wizkids Office over the Blue Line to at least have some firing lanes.

We do our first turn posturing moving up the map placing the free Barrier so only a Green Lantern or Klarion could be hit, so he comes all the way over going colossal picking Precision Strike, one-shotting my Klarion taking Mystics and moving back taking two from his trait. I see my opening, he was pushed and I could see where I might be able to get a two turn KO, so I Hypersonic all the way across the map hitting Krang for another two, and moving up my Lanterns but I’m unable to completely seal him off from his healer the next turn. He is able to get back to his Night Nurse the following turn and uses Support.  Rolling a 5 but I’m able to Prob, and he rolls a 6 healing all the way back up to his second click and huddles around Krang with Nighthawk, breaking line of fire from Jakeem and clears ….. At this point I think I try attacking Nighthawk but I know what was coming regardless, so I pick Impervious and hope for the best from the first attack… So he moves Krang out with Juston, attacking (I fail Shapechange and Impervious) and he’s able to finish me off with a single target Pulse Wave. Being one square off from sealing a hallway was absolutely crippling to my chances in this game so I’m 2-2, If I get good points in my next game I was pretty sure I would make the cut so I patiently wait for the next round.

Round 5 – David Frenzel

Mr Hyde X2
Betty Brant X2
Overdrive
Dagger

This was it for me. I had to win this round if I wanted to keep going  and it was against a very creative team I had never thought about and played by an awesome guy. I win map and stick to my plan and choose the Blue Line. David moves up carrying the Hydes and Dagger with Overdrive and I move and block myself in a room then pick up the Symbiote the next turn as he clears . He moves up a little more with Overdrive since he still wasn’t within Hyde’s Charge range. But it was within my range to Sidestep Pen Blast/Energy Explode so Teekl Perplexed up Jakeem’s damage hitting one Hyde for 5 and everything else for 2-penetrating damage and Lantern is able to wall Jakeem off from the Hydes. One Hyde then breaks a wall and the other Sidestep/Flurry one GL to death but at that point I’m able to Charge/Flurry one Hyde and Teekl takes care of the other with a blades for 6, then it was just getting Overdrive and the Betty’s from that point. I liked the concept of his team and it is always great seeing new ideas and new faces at tournaments like this,but the Green Lanterns were just able to slow down his approach so much that it was hard to overcome .

Top 8 – David Ellis

(X-Men Theme)
AoA Magneto
Jakeem Thunder
X-Men Gold ATA
Pym Particles

This was by far my favorite team I played that day, David is the one person that has  truly mastered  using that Magneto and he took it all the way to an undefeated record. Luckily, I had a trick up my sleeve. I win the map choice and choose Crossfire Canyon. Now this is the first time I had used Crossfire all day; it was meant primarily to out-range close combat guys and use Green Lantern to have line of fire to break adjacency from opposing Bizarro Green Arrows, but it also had another purpose: the map has ZERO printed blocking terrain and that is something that Magneto never wants to see. So we position around a little and he makes Jakeem tiny with Pym Particles. He ends up getting first shot to KO my Black Cat, then I’m able to return fire on his Jakeem for two after Invincible. Then we clear and he starts moving back toward a corner after KO’ing a Green Lantern. But I’m able to get him with Sidestepping and Charge/Flurry, putting him down dial and in a bind and unable to get away from Jakeem unless he Phases away because of the Symbiote. Then the next turn I Flurry/Steal Energy putting him on last click and Klarion is able to finish Jakeem off. With Magneto unable to get away either I was able the turn after I cleared to Outwit Invincible and Flurry Magneto to death. This was by a large amount my most aggressive game but it’s exactly what I had to do to take down that super powerful duo and such a skilled opponent .

Top 4  – Cameron McGee

(JSA Theme)
Jakeem Thunder
The Flash X2
Green Lantern
Hawkman
The Atom

This game was the Top 4 feature match. It was a proverbial chess match, one wrong mistake would cost you the game. Now as you see Cameron had a +6 theme, beating me out by one, so this could’ve ended badly had he won map but that is not what happened. I win map and we of course head to the Blue Line. We both move into position quite early and stay stationary for most of the game because a re-position could leave a single piece exposed so we Hypersonic break walls and fall back into formation, I got several shots on a Green Lantern which were Probbed into crit misses twice. You know what they say… third …..or make that fourth time is the charm though. I’m able to KO his Green Lantern. With time running very low Cameron sees his shot, Hypersonic busting a wall adjacent to Klarion and using both Flashes to hit him to his last click… He wasn’t able to finish him off… Time is called on my turn I hole up in a room and seal it shut and He isn’t able to finish off Klarion … I win 35-0.

Finals – Jason Cramer

(Mystical Theme)
Jakeem Thunder
Klarion the witch boy X 2
Weapon Drop

Jason has been playing in this area for as long as I have and he’s had some bad luck in past events so I know he was very happy to be in his first final cut and I was just as excited for him .This team was actually developed by my teammate Brian Smith and he used the Modern version of it in the Wizkids Open two weeks prior to this event ,so needless to say I knew it well, heck it was almost the build I went with myself. I won’t go into the match to much because like I had stated previously this was also a match that was recorded. A big thing happened in the onset of the match… It was the first time that day the map was not in my hands . He wins the map and we head to Prison 42. This wasn’t a bad scenario for me either, I studied the map and I quickly found my choke points. So we take a few turns of posturing and I’m able to Hypersonic/Steal Energy to take out one of his Klarions. He is then able to take out a Green Lantern, but he moves up his Klarion to have an extra Prob for my attack the next turn, but he moves in the exact spot I need him to do the same thing I did to the other Klarion. So I used Hypersonic/Steal Energy again KO’ing his second Klarion. He’s down to both Teekls and Jakeem. He Blades one of the Barriers I placed around Jakeem with Green Lantern, and used the other Teekl to attack Jakeem missing. His Jakeem then is able to hit my Jakeem for 4 after forgetting my Shapechange. The next turn I Poison both Teekls and we both clear. I make it into a hole the next turn and barricade in Jakeem and Green Lantern . He charge flurrys breaking a wall and KO’ing Green Lantern but it was well to late and time is called and I win my second Super Qualifer and earn my entry into the Majestix $1k !!

I have a lot of people I want to thank for such a good well oiled machine of a tournament.  First I want to thank Pat for presenting the opportunity to us and having me take the worst champions photo in existence, Huge thanks to Matt Peterson for judging and donating so much of his time. A big thanks to my team and Chip for donating so much prize support. This event was not run by a venue, these prizes weren’t handed out by Wizkids, this was an entirely crowd sourced and funded event.. this should be a call to arms for the Heroclix community; if you don’t have a venues support, do it yourself and be passionate about what your doing and you will succeed.