* Day 2 team (300pts Constructed Restricted) KEYWORD: Mystical 2x Shazam! (Rookie) from Origins #79 Dr. Alchemy from Justice League #25 Warbound on all 3 figs (KW Mystical) M&M F100 Protected on Shazam! M&M F102 Inside Information on Shazam! M&M F003 Total 299 pointsComments - The team is flexible because if I need to I can use Dr. Alchemy with Warbound to have Shazam! Hypersonic every turn. In a close-quarter fight the two Shazams! are able to go toe-to-toe with anything out there. In the day 4 finals match I did this twice, including the final match against Chance's Klarion Teen Wildcard theme team. The key objects for my team were (Structural Integrity Field) S.I.F. and Phone Booth. Turn 1, I can charge up BOTH Shazams in one of three principle ways. The team is set up to also make Barriers every single turn which can't be knocked down because of S.I.F. SIF Teams and Rookie Shazam are not strategies / figures that engender love because they are painful to play against and Shazam is an undercosted brick. Don't try these for fun play! But this was Worlds so I aimed at playing the best there was.
Day 2 Runner-up Team: 105 Shazam! (Rookie), 35 Scarlet Witch (Avengers SR #57), 62 Dr. Alchemy from JL, 59 Clea from SI. 20 Warbound 8 Protected on Shazam! 11 Amadeus Cho Total: 300 OBJECTS: Kinetic Accelerator - gives Shazam! a boost Shield Disruptor - allows Shazam! to do penetrating damage S.I.F. - this is a key object for the team, on many maps it allows me to surround my team with an indestructable barrier (which I can make every turn). Then when I want to I can switch over and use Dr. A. to TK Shazam! for a first strike. The prison map is also great with S.I.F. and barrier as a single barrier can wall off significant portions of the map. Telephone Booth - this is also a key object. It allows both Shazams! to charge up on turn one using only TWO actions (one from Dr. Alchemy and another on Shazam!). Of course it is possible to play without it you just have to constantly create barriers until both Shazams! are charged up and cleared of tokens using Warbound + Dr. Alchemy's barrier power. Meteorite - Used against other teams with a focus around a heavy-hitter like Superman, Shazam!, Ms. Marvel. Satellite Dish - vs High defense Tombstone - for Defense Vine - The vine goes really well with Malice since I can use it every single turn to heal the damage that is given by Malice. BFCS: Ordinary Day - a staple. Exhaustion - vs. tent-pole teams like Chase KC Superman, but also against non-Warbound teams. Malice - vs. tent-pole teams, or if I want to turtle using SIF + Barrier every turn. Isolation - vs. Turtle teams, Mr. Fantastic Brill-tac teams, Blender Squirrel, Dr. Strange, or Namor of the Skyways teams.
Note: when I play in local tournaments or for fun I always play with a Highlander rule (no double of a named figure), so this was a very unusual team for me field. In fact it was the first team ever (outside of playtesting for worlds) that I had played a team with a double of a non-generic figure! Also, recently I have been play fun teams when I play, often fielding X-men teams. So this sort of really powerful team is not the type of team I usually play with my friends with. An experienced player will recognize that this team I fielded for worlds was a really gross team. This is a World Championship tournament after all ... In Day 2 (149 players) there were many Ms. Marvel (Skrull) teams, Dr. Strange Teams, Shazam! variant Teams, FCBD Iron-Man teams, and Klarion-based Teen Keyword Teams.
* Day 3 (Sealed from 2 SI Boosters, 300 pts) My Booster Pulls: (I got Energizer, Grey Gargoyle, Punisher, Adam Warlock, Jarvis, Moloid, Iron Man, Dum Dum Dugan, Howard the Duck, and Ringmaster) My Team: 188 Iron Man 35 Howard the Duck 35 Energizer 36 Jarvis (SR) Total: 294Comments - The team was basically a tent pole team centered around Iron Man. Energizer was there to remove objects from the map and people's hands. Jarvis was on the team for outwit and shooting. Howard the Duck was on the team for Perplex. There were far, far better teams pulled than mine. So this is by no means a reflection of the best sealed team possible. Lady Luck plays a role here. Lots of Ms. Marvels being played. My key strategy was to double perplex up Iron Man's defense to 20. That saved me on several occasions. Then follow up with Iron Man at 13 AV. Sergio from Italy pulled what I considered to be among the best possible pulls possible from 2 boosters of SI: Skrull Ms. Marvel, Gee, Iron Fist. I had to verify his team, and he had to verify mine. (That is, we checked each other's pulls, team builds, and opened boosters in front of each other, and signed off on the record sheets). I pulled a Vendetta and Infiltrate Feat card as well. In retrospect, I probably should have played the Vendetta on one of the smaller characters on the off-chance that they could KO someone to get points. I could have played it on Iron Man as well, but it wouldn't have come up. They called time as I was making this decision so I decided not to play it.
* Day 3 (Floor 50% Secret Invasion, 300 pts) 168 Ms. Marvel (Skrull) from S.I. #008b 62 Dr. Alchemy from Justice League 35 Scarlet Witch (SR #57) Avengers set 10 Warbound M&M F100 (keyword: Mystical) 8 Protected M&M F102 on Ms. Marvel 4 Inside Information M&M F003 on Ms. Marvel 6 NanoArmor 2099 Feat on Ms. Marvel. Total: 298 points Comments - Skrull Ms. Marvel is the most devastating figure from S.I., I knew I would be playing her. The team I chose was basically a S.I.F. + Ms. Marvel team. S.I.F. is a versatile strategy which allows you to turtle when you need to, to retreat if necessary, to advance with impunity (on the right maps), and gain advantage in positional play. It isn't fun to play against and I wouldn't suggest playing it for fun certainly. The Warbounded Scarlet Witch & Dr. Alchemy allow me to make a barrier every turn. Though I did consider, build, and play-test a Namor + Sentinel of the Skyways (Warbound + 2x Protected) team. In fact there were two Namor Skyways teams in Day 3 of the tournament. I considered all sorts of variations using both Human and Skrull Ms. Marvel. Including Skrull Ms. Marvel Warbound to 100pt Yellowjacket Skrull. I considered Spy and Skrull Theme teams. In the end, the runner-up team was: 168 Skrull Ms. Marvel, 50 Spider-man 35 Scarlet Witch (Avengers #57) 30 Jarvis 8 Protected 4 Inside Information 6 Nano Armor
* Day 4 team (300pts Constructed Restricted) 2x Shazam! (Rookie) from Origins #79 Dr. Alchemy from Justice League #25 Warbound on all 3 figs (KW Mystical) M&M F100 Protected on Shazam! M&M F102 Inside Information on Shazam! M&M F003 Total 299 points KEYWORD: MysticalComments - For Day 4 I considered changing up the Battlefield conditions. There were 5 rounds instead of 4 in Day 4 so I could play a 5th BFC. Having seen the the field in Day 2 which had LOTS of Klarion teams, I asked myself what Battlefield would work well against Klarion? The answer came in the form of Skrull Kill Krew to nerf Klarion's super senses. In fact, the very final (top 2) match was a Klarion / Kid Flash Teen Theme Team. I played the Skrull Kill Krew but it was Theme Ignored. I choose Exhausion to play against non-Warbound teams. I choose Ordinary Day for obvious reasons. I choose Malice to play against tent-pole teams. I choose Isolation in case I came up against Fantastic Four teams, Mr. Fantastic Brill-tac teams, Turtle, Blender Squirrel, Dr. Strange, or Namor of the Skyways teams.
My 500pt team was: (500 pts Unrestricted, anything goes) Theme Keyword: Fantastic Four 0 ATA Fantastic Four (FF #F007) 100 Mr. Fantastic (FF Starter) 20 Brilliant Tactician (Mr. Fantastic) 8 Protected (Mr. Fantastic) 3 Alias (Mr. Fantastic) 6 Nano Armor (Mr. Fantastic) 100 Thing (FF Starter) 80 Invisible Woman (Clobberin' Time Vet) 8 Protected (Invisible Woman) 102 Human Torch (FF Vet #72) 4 Inside Information (Torch) 62 Crystal (AW Uniq #85) 5 Alicia Masters (Pog) Total: 498 PointsComments - I considered many teams including teams centered around KC Flash. The idea of this team was to use ATA Fantastic Four Feat to replace everyone's defense value with Invisible Woman's 19. Then use Brilliant Tactician to modify it up to 21 for everyone using Mr. Fantastic as a Brilliant Tactician. Remember it goes Replace then Modify.
500pt Unrestricted Runner up team: 105 Shazam! (Rookie) 53 Question (Exp) 10 Warbound (Mystical) 8 Protected (Shazam!) 91 Super-Nova 8 Protected (Super-Nova) 5 Loner (Super-Nova) 84 Hawkeye (FF, Transporter Vet) 5 Thunderbolts (Hawkeye) 28 Mandroid Armor (Rookie) 20 Destiny (Rookie) 16 Jane Foster (LE) 12 Con Artist (Exp) 18 DEO Agent (Exp) 19 Elektra (LE) 20 Intergang Medic (Rookie) 5 MaryJane (Pog)Comments - My 2nd choice team was a non-theme team. This team was versatile and flexible. It is capable of dealing with numerous threats and team archetypes. The Shazam + Question Warbound pair allows it to Hypersonic Attack with Shazam every turn. The Super-Nova with his 4 damage pulse wave allows me to use Mandroid Armor to TK up Super-Nova up his attack with Perplex to 12 and hit with a single target Pulse wave. In close quarters, the team can dish out a lot of damage with Elektra, Hawkeye, Super-Nova and Shazam!. The team has a great mix of utility with Perplex from Question, Con Artist, DEO Agent. I have 3 medics on the team with DEO Agent, Intergang Medic, and Jane Foster. MJ the 5 point wild card (Spidey ally) pog allows me to copy Mandroid's SHIELD to up damage or range, copy DEO or Elektra to up AV, and copy Hawkeye's Thunderbolts. I expected to use Thunderbolts for Ultimates (to see through stealth) or Mystics (against hard-hitting teams). It could easily to toe-to-toe with the Fantastic Four team I designed (so long as Super-Nova could get off a good pulse wave).
(2000 pts Unrestricted, no cardboard, 5 figures, 5 actions) 256 KC Superman 264 Nimrod 286 Ganthet 251 Brainiac 800 SC AMonitorComments - This isn't the optimal team in my mind. I heard the person who played 3 Galactus (Galactii?) won. I was limited by luggage space and so I packed figures which would be good against Colossal figures. Brainiac has 5 damage with Pulse Wave. TK him in with Ganthet and get off a single target Pulse Wave. Nimrod starts with 4 damage Pulse Wave so follow up with Nimrod to get a single target 4 damage pulse wave. That's 9 straight through. Superman and S.C. Anti-Monitor were on the team for heavy-hitting madness.
