March Madness: Round Two Results

The big plus about moving on to round two is… there’s only half as many games to play!

With a number of the supposedly “easy” decks out of the way, the games turn more and more challenging… Of course, some of those so-called “easy” decks have turned out to be anything but weak, creating some startling upsets and moving that little bit closer to the finals.

With only 16 games to play in round two, the cards flew hard and fast and thus we have results… enjoy! Caveat: For many of these games, I was either not a player or not even in the room, so can’t give more than a passing comment therein…

Secret Six win over Teen Titans
Don’t you just love it when a plan comes together? Or more importantly, when it doesn’t, and you somehow come out ahead anyway? The Secret Six started right out of the gate with House of Secrets feeding the endurance total every turn all the way to 7, providing in the end over 20 more endurance that the Titans were prepared to deal with. The trouble with that many team attackers is deciding just who to toss into just which target… and of course, being lowbies all, there’s breakthrough to deal with. No Scandal, no Secret Six Victorious, just a secretive little house on a hill giving a final endurance of 31 to -3.

JLA win over Anti-Matter
Everyone, including myself, had high hopes for the AGL’s and their Sinestro Corp Rings, but Chomin just wasn’t coming out to play. Over the course of 6 turns a grand total of 2 AGL’s showed up. Two Parallax’s did their best to block the bleed, but the Ally effects just kept adding up, and Oliver Queen was on deck to make sure that the Anti-Matter goons just never managed to keep anyone around. Getting 12 pts of burn off of Fiero was nice, but just not enough.

Thunderbolts win over League of Assassins
After the first round showing from Songbird, Ra’s consulted his daughters and decided to take evens, hoping to stymie Melissa Gold’s onslaught… but the Thunderbolts were having none of those shenanigans. Turn five, Blizzard looked Ubu square in the eye and promptly dropped a Flying Kick, two Combat Reflexes, two Deadly Conspiracies and two Team Tactics to build up close to 40 ATK, while Josef Witschi apparently misunderstood his instructions (they were Lost in Translation) and he completely forgot how to reinforce. Taken down by Blizzard… oh the ignominy….

Kang wins over Doom
Pablo sez: Doom dominated early in the game, stonewalling an attack into Doom-bot Corps with Doomstadt (doh!) and building a nice board presence at the expense of Kang’s fluctuating hand (power-up, power-up, power-up, stonewall. Great!) At least Kang 4 was helping replenish it. Turn 6 had Kang kick it into gear (coinciding with Doom recruiting 2 drop Kang; a traitor in their midst, perhaps?), and on 8, Doom swung twice, but Kang hung on for the stun and the win.

Checkmate wins over Injustice Gang
This was a ridiculously close call; Blows were exchanged, and cards were drawn as the Gang pulled out IQ, Lex and Joker, and a couple of Criminal Masterminds. In response Checkmate curved out with kings, their hand overflowing (yes, they ended up drawing their deck). Turn 6, Injustice Gang swung in and knocked Checkmate to -7, but without an All Too Easy to blow it completely out, Checkmate knocked the Gang to -7 as well, and the game proceeded to turn 7 and Checkmate’s initiative. Checkmate progresses.
Pablo sez: Oh, if only the Bear had been able to pull that one off! I don’t know that it would have been a huge upset, as IJ hand burn is solid, but it would have thrown people for a loop. An All too Easy on turn 6 would have done it, but with the tie at -7 END, not being able pay endurance to activate Scarecrow’s ability next turn really hurt. Shoulda, coulda, woulda.

Hellfire Club wins over Arkham Inmates
Loonies versus Powermongers, the Hellfire Club marshalled their resources and just tossed so much money at the problem that there was little the Inmates could do. It didn’t help that they missed a drop or two, while Shinobi Shaw glared meaningfully at them.

The New Brotherhood wins over Fearsome Five
You know what’s not fearsome? The Fearsome Five, when they’re faced with two The New Brotherhoods, a Flying Kick, and other such goodness. In probably the fastest game of the round, this four-turn blowout punted the Fearsome Five back to the minor leagues while the baby Brotherhood moves on to face…
Pablo sez: Clean, flawless play from TNB was too much for the Five, so the game finished on turn 4. In restrospect, the inclusion of The Kyln may have been a building error. I wanted to have a generic location I could exhaust for Tricked Sports Car or Jinx, but having to target a stunned character prevented me from flipping it in time against such a fast deck.

Shadowpact win over Heralds of Galactus
Another Pablo vs Carrie match, the Herald life-gain just wasn’t firing while Blackbriar Thorn just got bigger and bigger and bigger. If I understand correctly the game was over before Galactus was able to hit the board.
Pablo sez: No regrets on this one. Yes, the matchup was in favour of the Pact, as the Heralds could not maintain good board position. But come one! The 19/19 Blackbriar Thorn was sweet to behold, and flipping those two Magical Lobotomy’s repeatedly made me feel better about inlcuding them in the deck. I’ve lost the Five, but the Pact is still in it!

Kree win over Marvel Knights
Gamerette and Pablo took the reigns on this one. The Knights managed to get Punisher on the board with his toys, but a stunback followed by an Improper Burial took the wind out of their sails, while Dr Minerva kept her blue boys rolling in good fashion.
Pablo sez: I regret winning this one, as I would have loved to see the Knights move on. Kree is solid, though. This was my first time piloting a Kree deck, although I had seen it in action before, so the win speaks volumes for the strength of the press build. The turning point? Playing Improper Burial on 4-drop Punisher. As Spud said, the game was decided from then on.

Horsemen of Apocalypse win over MCG Heralds 
The Punisher Squadrons came out in good order, Force Field Belts and Poker Nights keeping the reinforcement rolling until the bigger Heralds could come into play, but in the end the Horsemen were just… bigger. So many tokens… soooooo many tokens… (*shudder*)

Team Superman win over Gotham Knights 
Pablo sez: The match was pretty close all the way through, with both teams curving out all the way through. Lois Lane on 1 found Krypto just like on the first round… We’ve got LL working hard on these matches. I thought Carrie had gotten into trouble on turn 4 when she pitched most of her hand to pump up Cassandra Cain, but those Gotham Knights certainly know how to replenish your hand. Team Superman did well with the Kara on 4, Power Girl on 5 combo, but it really came down to Superman showing up on 7 and having the initiative against Lady Shiva. After TS attacked, the Endurance totals were 14 to -9 in Supes’ favour. Carrie launched a great attack with Dick Grayson using 2 Flying Kicks and 2 No Man Escapes the Manhunters, but fell shy of the tie by 3 endurance. It looks like brawn prevailed over brains this time around.

Doom Patrol win over JSA
The little team that could! By using lower-drop characters the Doom Patrol were able to deny the JSA a lot of their up-the-curve toys, to the point where the +1/+1 counters were simply carrying more weight than the JSA’s exhaustion bonuses. I have a feeling Cliff will be quite pleased when he hears that Robotman brought some sincere stompage.

Green Lantern Corp win over Skrulls
Without Franklin to hide him, Captain Skrullmerica wasn’t keeping his token for more than one turn against a team where every single member has flight… shapeshift though me might, there was just no hiding from Green Lanter’s Light. The GLC having three Light Armours in play by turn 4 just made the beats all that much more… beaty.

Emerald Enemies win over Avengers
Pablo sez: Emerald Enemies (Pablo) defeats (to Spud’s dismay) the Avengers (Carrie). Carrie dished out a lot of hurting with the Avengers, but (surprise!) a KO effect played a huge role in determining the outcome of the match. On turn 5, Submariner swung into Goldface, who used his own effect to go to 11/11, and Heroes in Reserve ensured the mutual stun. An 8/7 Black Panther swung into Black hand, but with Major Force and Tattoed Man on the board, Emerald Twilight KO’d Namor before Black Hand stunned. Ouch. Empire reduced the resource count to 2 for EE, making Major Force and Tattoed Man pretty beefy. The END totals were 24 for EE, 12 for Avengers. On 6, WonderMan stunned Goldface, but Major Force cleared the way for a Tattooed Man and Black Hand attack to the face. Panther and Rick Jones then took out the two small characters, but in the end, EE prevailed 10 to -3.

Big Brotherhood win over Negative Zone
You know how we all through this would be a complete walkover? Guess what…. final scores were -13 to -16, despite the Brotherhood getting both Avalon and Lost City in the row as their first two resources. A string of tactfully played global pumps really kept the Zoners in the game, rolling into turn seven with a 7pt lead over the Brotherhood’s endurance… but Brotherhood had initiative, and gleefully proceeded to stomp Blastaar into the ground. That’ll teach him for giving into the Phalanx (Ooh! Topical Annihilation: Conquest reference!). Despite our secret yearnings for the powerhouse Brotherhood deck getting knocked out, it just wasn’t to be - Big Brotherhood advance.

Revenge Squad win over Crime Lords
… words cannot adequately express my emotions right now. The Crime Lords played a perfect game, reinforcement abounding, stat pumps where needed, Roscoe Sweeney hunting out no less than five additional characters, and Kingpin: Overboss revelling in his glorious role. Not even the unbridled strength of Doomsday was willing to take on Wilson directly. It all came down to turn 7, when Hulk smashed into Metallo. Three plot twists and a discard for Brainiac’s -DEF ability meant a stunback, putting the scores at -8 to -10, Crime Lords favour. Brainiac schemed surveyed the Crime Lords board - Kingpin: Overboss and Roscoe Sweeney. Duty Calls was sitting handy in the resource row… Brainiac swung into Roscoe, Duty Calls reinforced… and then Standoff tosses an extra 2 burn onto the 1 damage for Roscoe going under. Final score Crime Lords -11, Revenge Squad -10.
… excuse me now. I’ve punched Spud repeatedly already, so now I have to decide whether continue, or to have pie. I’m told I shouldn’t emotionally eat…