by Edison Lee
Hey everyone! I am Edison from Singapore and I have been playing HeroClix since the very beginning in 2002 when I was 9 years old. I fell in love with the game instantly as I could play with my favourite superheroes and create team-ups that I had always imagine. This past Sunday was the first official National Championship event for Singapore. It is a huge milestone for us as we finally got such an amazing prize support of Convention Exclusives. Our community may be small for now but we are looking forward to growing and bringing this wonderful game to more people.
The weeks leading up to the event, I had been doing quite a lot of practice and team building with my friends. I ended up with three teams that I was considering: X-Men Swap, Spider-Man Family Scarlet Witch FF Swap or the team that I ended up playing, Thanos Cosmic. The impact of the Watchlist required me to make changes, as I had previously depended on Alchemical Fire. While building this team that I used, my mindset was that as long as Thanos did not get KO’d, the likelihood of me winning is high. This had led me to selecting pieces that would keep Thanos alive for as long as possible.
Main Force
Thanos (175)
Captain Mar-Vell (50)
The Watcher (40)
Molecule Man (30)
Captain Carter’s Shield (5)
Sideline:
A4E002 Skrull Spy
A4E002 Skrull Spy
XRF008 Sentinel
XRF008 Sentinel
XRF008 Sentinel
XRF008 Sentinel
XRF008 Sentinel
Maps: Negative Zone, Baxter Building / Sentinel HQ, Munich Escape
I knew instantly that Molecule Man would be added to my force. He is an amazing figure for his points and with the Watchlist removing the randomness, Molecule Man only got better. Protecting my team from alpha strikes is more important than most teams, due to only having four characters in my build. Having played the miniatures game Watcher a few times, I knew that he was more than just a Defend piece. The idea of having Carter’s Shield equipped to him is straightforward, but “lines of fire are never blocked” is what made the cut. Being able to Outwit and TTPC while hiding behind walls and characters had been crucial throughout the tournament. The last character is Captain Mar-Vell, who is the Prime figure of my team. This figure was recommended by my friend, Benjamin Tan. We talked a lot about how Mar-Vell could take critical attacks away not only for Thanos, but Molecule and Watcher as well. During my testing, I had brought Watcher to his last click and redirected the attack to Mar-Vell, who now enjoyed the 21-Defense value and Watcher was able to safely hide and TTPC my opponent’s attack. His Leadership added with Thanos’ Willpower gave Thanos the chance to act on every turn. I decided to keep the team as Themed Team just for the TTPC. Sure, I will not be winning any Map rolls, but ensuring a successful Mind Control from Thanos was more important than having pieces like Scarlet Witch or Bishop Prime.
I played a total of five rounds for Singapore National Championship. As my second round and third round Swiss opponents were the same in the Semi-Finals, my recollection of the event is pretty blur. Please pardon me! My first round opponent, William Ngiam, who owns a local game store Gallant Games, was using a Scientist build that aims to win with Ultron Pym’s Mission Points. He won the initiative roll and chose Honeymoon Resort. Unfortunately, Thanos was able to Mind Control his Ultron Pym so frequently, dealing 4-damage consistently to his team every turn. I had managed to defeat his team without suffering any KOs on my end.
My second round opponent is my buddy, Ervin Lam. Ervin’s team was the one that I dreaded facing the most. He was piloting Agatha Harkness, Sakaarian Iron Man, Molecule Man and X-Men Swap pieces as the remaining. Even though Ervin was unthemed, he managed to win the initiative roll and chose Krakoa. My timing and positioning could not have been more perfect in the game. I had managed to KO Molecule Man and Venom Magneto quite early with a well-timed Mind Control and through some Outwit from my Watcher, I took down Agatha to secure my win.
My third round opponent, another buddy of mine, is Benjamin Soh. Benjamin is the player that I practice the most with and we were really familiar with each other’s team. Benjamin won the initiative roll and chose Krakoa. His team was an alpha strike Scientist team, which could on the second turn move all the way up to my starting area and KO my Molecule Man. As I had been in this scenario before, I went straight for the Flashes and his Molecule Man. I had managed to move toward the middle of the map and KO’d his Sentinel that he had generated earlier in the game. This KO was the only reason I managed to score 20 points ahead of him.
After the Swiss cut, I was paired up against Ervin. I won the initiative roll this time and chose Munich Escape. This is an excellent map against his team due to the lack of hindering terrain and the middle map elevation added as an extra protection for me. During the first turn, I TK’d Thanos up, moved him all the way up and picked up Ervin’s Cloak of Levitation, before using the free Phasing from the Space Gem. With this move, I had managed to hinder his Sakaarian Iron Man. This was the most difficult match I had that day and both of us made crucial errors with our gameplay. I managed to squeak out a win by Mind Controlling his Sakaarian Iron Man to KO his Venom Magneto and taking out his Molecule Man toward the end of the game.
I met Benjamin in the finals. This game was much easier in terms of stress level as I had a clear plan and knew which figures I needed to KO and the order I needed to do it. Benjamin won the initiative roll and chose Krakoa again. Around 30 mins to 40 mins into the match, I had left Thanos and Watcher, while Benjamin had Wrecker Prime, Red Son Lex Luthor, Psycho Man and one of Wrecker’s bystanders. As I was ahead in points and did not want to engage with Red Son Lex Luthor unnecessarily, I decided to Phasing all the way to the other end of the map and Mind Controlled his pieces out of my reach. It was probably the most ant-climatic finals ever.
I would like to thank Mint TCG for organizing this National Championship and Team Board Games for hosting. A special thank you to my friends Benjamin Soh, Benjamin Tan, Shu Chew, Ervin Lam and Terence Chew for all the practice games and allowing me to bounce of ideas with you guys. Could not have done it without you all. A special shoutout to Choon Hui, who is a player of ours in his 60s, managing to get Top 4 with his now infamous Gladiator Prime. Thank you Patrick and Majestix CCG for giving me this space to share!
