by Devin Owens
Last Weekend Eternal Games in Warren Michigan hosted one of the final ROC Regionals before U.S. Nationals and a number of the Married with Clix crew decided to go down and take advantage of the chance to get enough WKO points to qualify. Although I’m not going to be able to attend US Nationals this year I’m happy that my teammates Emily and Tom got enough points to qualify and that I came away from this regional with a win.
If you were following States you might have seen the most unusual piece on my team before as part of Nate White’s Grandgog Indiana States winning team. When I saw that team I immediately saw the potential in forcing colossal retaliation. After some time teambuilding I decided to keep the combo, but change the retaliators to Surtur and make it more of a defensive area control team than a rush down one.
MY TEAM (Click on them to buy!)
100 DP18-001 Starro:
The first thing you need to make Grandmaster work is something to force your opponent to attack and 10 defense expendable pogs that you can place right next to your opponent after a hit mind control fill that role perfectly. Grandmaster and Starro also share a keyword so the team can be Ruler themed and the starrophytes help to block my opponent’s movement and allow me to equip the Remaker Ring on turn one.
The threat that makes everything else work, if your opponent gets too close he can activate one of your retaliations. Otherwise he’s 11/3 at 9 range with 20 defense from ESD, 75 points and has sidestep to enable him to be a quite effective call in battery
It’s my firm belief that Surtur is the best figure in the game, I won New York states with a team centered around making Surtur normal sized and 13/6. Surtur wasn’t attacking for quite as much here but is still terrifying for almost every team.
Leadership that shares a keyword with Starro, retaliation, two plasticity flurry 10/3 pogs to further gum up the board. I’m not sure there’s a better 20 points in the game and there definitely isn’t within the Ruler keyword.
One thing about playing a team with so many colossals on it is that they tend to be vulnerable, giving my Surturs and/or Starro ESD made my opponent have to put entire turns worth of resources into killing them, slowing them down considerably.
As Tom Kerr always says, build 292 point teams and then add the tank. On top of how good the tank normally is Starro can throw it wherever there’s a starrophyte and It’s another way to potentially activate retaliation.
If you have 5 points leftover and you don’t expect to win map every time put this map bonus on your team. Crimson Sage is a ridiculous 5 points for flying prob with indom even if it’s only every second game
5 MP19 Remaker (Mandarin Ring):
Grandmaster is 4 clicks long with only ESD, he needs protection of some kind and shape change fits the bill, as well as the poison making opponents think twice about basing him.
3 JWS100 The Joker’s Gas Canister:
+1 attack and damage and battlefury is exactly what Surtur needs to one shot Uni-mind (150) and Black Adam and to need only one perplex to one shot Black Panther, this sat near Tony Stark’s car most games where one of the Surturs could blow it up before retaliating
5 XXSID-025 Wolverine Faculty ID:
I never build a team without one
I didn’t have access to a second 052 Cyclops, if you do go with that
In my opinion one of the best ID cards in the game, 13 attach energy explosion that tokens is incredible, again a staple of my team building.
3 MVID-018 Cyclops Student ID:
I don’t build a team without one
3 MVID-020 Jean Grey Student ID:
I don’t own a chase Jean so she’s not generally on my teams, but I went to great lengths to get one for this tournament because I needed something to get Grandmaster close enough to my opponent to use his attack power. She is amazing and I wish I owned or could easily borrow one so she could be on all my teams.
This is the flex slot, but Chamber did a lot for me in this tournament.
Sideline:
XXS052 Cyclops
XXS065 Jean Grey
XXS037b Professor X
XXS053 Wolverine
HQGG049 Harley Quinn
XXS041 Chamber
WKMP17-006a Pym Particle Tank
BTAS067 Wonder Woman
BTAS072 Firestorm
All of the call-ins are the obvious choices, but Firestorm and Wonder Woman are very important to the team, Starrophytes can bring them out effectively at will and the absolute to token opponents with Wonder Woman can be extremely relevant.
Maps:
Star Trek Underground Cavern
Stark Tower
Bifrost
Having a good restrictive indoor map is important in certain matchups, especially with the number of pogs I had. Bifrost is a great map for Starro, channeling your opponents up the middle of the map or forcing them to take damage. Stark tower is on the list for the map bonus, it’s not a great map for the team.
Round 1 – Jordan Yang – Black Panther + Remaker, Mister Oz, Unseen + Symbiote, Groot
I move up, he equips, I try to shoot his Groot and roll a 3, 4, 4, he brings in Jean and rolls 8, 8 to kill a Surtur, uses Groot to carry Black Panther back I try to Tank Groot needing 7s, roll 4, 4, 5. Groot retaliates, I miss Shape Change he deals 3 to Grandmaster and kills a Surtur. Starro Tank and finally hits killing Mister Oz, and I kill Groot and deal 2 to Unseen. BP kills Grandmaster off another missed Shape Change and Groot leaving just my Starro behind who spends the rest of the game chasing an Unseen around eventually cornering and killing him with a Chamber call in.
L 133 – 171
Round 2 – Jay Solomon – Daredevil + Venom Harness, The Skull, Lockjaw, Iron Heart, JW Joker (50), Tony Stark’s Car, The Skull Map bonus
I won map and since he had The Skull I chose to go to Star Trek Underground. He grouped his team up around his Tony Stark’s car and set about killing my Surturs which he succeeded in, but in the meantime I Mind Controlled his Daredevil to hit his Skull and hit him once with a Walking Wood to get his Skull to last click and take a 6 token off with Starro, one with a walking wood and one with a Starrophyte. I killed his Daredevil with a cyclops call-in then used Starro’s multiple targets to get around Skull’s Mastermind and KO him. He used a call-in to kill my Groot but put his Lockjaw on last click with an action token. The next turn I Sidestepped forward generated Starrophytes and missed with three bringing out Wonder Woman who successfully rolled above a 4 and KOd Lockjaw with a token a couple minutes before time.
W 226 – 81
Round 3 – Roger Stanley – Sherrif Steve Rogers, Witch Hunter Angela, Tri-Sentinel, Agamotto, Asgardian Shield
Roger was a newer player playing a Past theme team that made it very hard for my colossal team to hit him. I used a call-in to whittle down his Angela. He attacked my Starro and I retaliated with Surtur missing his Agamotto but killing his Tri-Sentinel and damaging his Sherif Steve Rogers before using a Jean Grey call in to KO his Angela. Then I just sat back and retaliated and shot with Grandmaster and call ins.
Win – 299-36
Round 4 – Nate White – Grandgog (A better description of Nate’s team than I can give can be found here in his description of his Indiana States win)
I was worried about this matchup, especially if I lost map since none of my team except Starro stands up to a Mangog retaliation all that well. So of course I lost map. He brings up his Puffin and Seal and takes my Remaker, I generate Starrophytes adjacent to his Puffin so that at least he has to break away to Grangog me. He succeeds and kills my Groot, Tank and Grandmaster along with dealing two to Starro but doesn’t promote. I retaliate with Surtur to kill his Mangog. He retaliated with his Groot to kill my Surtur and do more damage to Starro, I retaliate with my other Surtur to kill his Groot and Walking Woods. He kills my Surtur and takes my Starro down to last click. I retaliate with Starro on Grandmaster, miss, bring in Chamber, Poison, attack and crit miss. I then bring in Firestorm from the sideline and manage to hit Grandmaster and finish him off before getting wiped out soon after.
Loss – 300 – 138
I end Swiss at 2-2 with 796 points, feeling ok but knowing that I need to hope that people didn’t score a lot of points in order to make it into the top 8. I end up 7th seed (9 points ahead of 9th) going into the top 8.
Top 8 – Tom Kerr – Black Adam + Remaker, Bill Baston 20×2, Billy Baston (40), Tempest, Pym Pocket Tank
Of course ending up 7th means that my first opponent is none other than Tom Kerr playing a very cool Justice Society theme team with the new Black Adam. He wins map and takes up to Amok Time so that he can make a first turn play with Chase Jean Grey to blow up my Joker Gas and steal my Remaker ring. I move up and flood the board with pogs. He does another call-in to Tank my colossals with Cyclops. I respond by Mind Controlling his Green Lantern and a Billy Batson, KO’ing Billy with GL and my Crimson Sage as well as killing his Tank with Grandmaster. He mostly has to clear. I kill his GL with a Walking Wood and move pogs forward. He calls in Chase Cyclops at 100 to try to kill Grandmaster needing a 7 and misses twice. I Tank his other 20 point Billy and his Tempest before finishing them both off with a Walking Wood and a Firestorm. Tom comes out with Black Adam and calls in Wolverine to try to kill Grandmaster again but somehow ends up missing both attacks again. I play keep away with Grandmaster and finish his 40 point Billy with a Harley call-in before time is called.
W 234 – 111
Top 4 – Nate White
The Top 4 is a very scary rematch, fortunately this time I win map and go to the Bifrost. I split up my team anyway just in case he has a way to Grandgog turn one anyway. He moves forward to kill one Surtur and succeeds. I move forward a little more. He kills the other surtur with his Starfox and I Mind Control him to kill Groot and walk towards me before knocking him to his last click. He has to clear but moves his Walking Woods up to act as Mastermind fodder. I call out Harley before realizing I can’t Energy Explode and have to Mind Control his Walking Woods, they both miss but manage to break away and I finish off Starfox with Harley. He presses forward with the rest of his team, eventually finishing off Groot with a Walking Wood and dealing a little bit of damage to Starro, I Sidestep forward and call out Chamber to kill Mangog with penetrating Poison. The next turn I call out Wolverine who manages to hit Grandmaster and roll a 4 for Blades to kill and Grandmaster kills one Walking Wood after taking 3. He only has Unseen left and uses his last call-in which I Shape Change at which point the game is over because he has no call-ins remaining.
Win 298 – 81
Finals – Jay Major – Mini Shredder, Shredder Clone, Overdrive, Sam Cap, Stark Tower Map Bonus
I win map again, for only the third time this tournament, and take us to the Bifrost. I equip and fill his Boxing Ring with pogs. He moves forward slightly, I try a Cyclops call-in needing an 8 to kill his Charged up and miss. He comes in and kills my Groot, one Surtur and the Tank. I call in Jean Grey, retaliate with Surtur on Sam Cap and finish her off with a Walking Wood and Jean. He kills my Surtur and deals some Shredder damage to Grandmaster, I call in Harley and pop Overdrive again then throw a light object at him with a Walking Wood to finish him off. He deals two more penetrating to Grandmaster with his Shredders, I call in Chamber and hit his Mini and then Poison twice. He calls in Wolverine kills Chamber after I get a Shape Change on Grandmaster then Sidesteps to kill a Walking Wood. Grandmaster attacks Shredder Clone and crits and then Poisons to finish him off. Starro shoots Mini for one. Mini Sidesteps beside Grandmaster to finish him. I bring out Starrophytes that all miss Mini to bring out Firestorm who hits Mini resetting him, I place him next to Starro. He fails his breakaway and clears. I call out Professor X and deal three and then finish him with a Walking Wood.
W 298 – 237
Thanks to the Judges and Eternal games for a great tournament and I hope to face all my opponents again.
