Another round of WKO’s are here! This time around I’m going to be able to make it to 3 of them. 2 constructed and 1 sealed. It just so happens that both the constructed ones I’m going to are both before the new Captain America set becomes legal, so I don’t have to worry about seeing any of the new pieces at them. The last while I’ve been trying out a Blackbird team with Cable that has the illusions and a bunch of X-Men retaliation. I had input from friends and kept tweaking it but in the end I just wasn’t feeling comfortable running it and back to Vulture I went. This is the last weekend that I’m able to play it in the current state of the game before the CAAV set releases and we see a bunch of Vulture teams on theme because of the new Steve Rogers (including myself, you know I’m going to try it themed). The current version of the team is Vulture prime, Unseen, 2x Big Tony’s, Wesley Crusher, Lockjaw, Groot, Octopus Arms, Bloodaxe, Symbiote, Firestorm, Wonder Woman and Flash Trouble Alerts and ID’s of Cyclops Student (SR and Uncommon options) and Faculty (SR), Harley Quinn (Title), Jean Grey Student (Chase) and Psylocke (Chase). Since last time I played it, I took off the Kate Pryde ID card and replaced it with the Psylocke ID. They both have the call in effect of granting Exploit Weakness but the Psylocke also has a Perplex, so I can use that as the call in over Harley Quinn if I’m facing a team with reducers and just have 1 less Perplex than I would have gotten off Harley who would give the +2 vs Psylocke +1.
1st Constructed was a day trip to WNY Gaming in Hamburg, NY. A car full of Canadians included Tom, Jay, Devin and myself. 15 players showed up so we did 4 rounds of Swiss and cut to top 8.
Round 1 was against Ryan. He was playing a team of Lobo x2, Trelane and a bunch of Troublealerts on the side. He moves his Lobos up to the center of the map. I equip and sidestep up a little. He moves one Lobo up and has the Dawg attack Wesley and misses. Perplex up Vulture and hit Dawg with the 1st attack and Lobo with the 2nd. Next Flurry hits and get him to stop click. I try and get the 7 to KO him with a walking wood but am not successful. He brings up the other Lobo to have Dawg take out a Big Tony. I retal with Groot on Dawg, hit and the resulting walking wood tries to hit Lobo. The other walking wood pushes to death trying to roll 7’s again. I don’t remember who ended up being successful between the walking wood, Lockjaw or Vulture, but I finally hit the 7 to KO one of the Lobos. He runs with the other Lobo trying to get far enough away to be able to heal up off the stop click. I called in Cyclops to take a shot at him. He brings up Leslie pog to outwit sidestep on Vulture and I KO the pog with Lockjaw to get the sidestep back and make my way over to Lobo, who had worked his way over to Groot and KO’d him but I was able to eventually roll the 7 I needed to KO that Lobo too. He moves up Trelane to try and take more points and was able to get Wesley on last action. I win 250-61.
Round 2 was with Weston who was playing a Hellfire team of Jean Grey, Jason Wyngarde x2, Dark Phoenix, Magneto and ID’s. 
He puts us on the underground and makes a barrier pog with Jason to inch up and protect the team. I do my usual equipping and sidestepping. He does some positioning and makes another barrier pog with the other Jason and both pogs use barrier. I call out Cyclops and break the only piece of barrier that will let me get into the team. I TK Vulture up and make it through his entire team, except for one of the Jason’s, who rolls Shape Change. He’s double tokened and sidesteps back. I sidestep towards him with Vulture and bring Unseen closer to have the prob. He calls out Beast who is able to KO Unseen, but he’s not able to poof Beast, so Lockjaw outwits Beasts Super Senses, Big Tony perplexes damage to 4 and Vulture KO’s Beast to go over to Jason, but Jason rolls Shape Change. He calls in Cyclops to try and KO a Big Tony but is unable again to poof him. I perplex Big Tony to 3 damage and sidestep over to him and hit the 8 to KO Cyclops for the win because I’ve hit 400 points and the game ends with Jason on the board still by the Alternate Win Condition. Final score of 300-68.
Round 3 was against Devin’s Hellfire team of Jason Wyngarde, Jean Grey, Tricentinal x2, Magneto x2, Tank and ID’s. Devin equips the Spectral ring and does some positioning and pog creating. I get the Symbiote to Unseen and because he’s put us on the Skull Camp map, I have no TK line to my objects so I sidestep Vulture, hoping to get the 2nd sidestep to make it to the Ock Arms, but I don’t get it. Devin sets up his Mind Control and uses the Tank on an attack to move my pieces around to where he needs them and do some damage. I lose Big Tony’s and Groot by the time it’s done. I KO the tank. He KO’s Vulture and I think Wesley. I’m down to just Unseen and Lockjaw, who have both taken damage from Tricentinals/Spin ring. I’m able to KO the Tricentinals as they come over. I call out Cyclops to take out a Magneto and miss. He gets some more tokens off Lockjaw. I call out the other Cyclops to try again and get him this time. I’m able to get out the other Magneto as well, putting me slightly up. He calls out Cyclops with Jean to give the Force Blast inspiration to a pog and Jason and they both Force Blast Lockjaw into the edge of the map KOing him, then time gets called. That Lockjaw dying was what took away my point lead and I lose 230-176. Devin and I always have such odd and crazy games and that was no exception.
Round 4 was against Ricky. He was playing Trader with gem trait, Starfire x2, Astronomer with gem trait, Mr. Oz, Groot and IDs. He puts us on Galador and moves his team right up to the middle. I equip and Sidestep to the back row of the map because my counting showed he could reach with a Pulsewave to my team if I was any more forward. He Running Shots to take out a Big Tony and then TK’s himself out of my reach. I Sidestep up and clear because he’s too far back for me to TK because of Oz. He takes out another Tony. This time he’s close enough that I can reach him. I am able to get both Starfires and nothing else with Vulture. I Psychic blast his Trader with Lockjaw then call in Cyclops and hit Trader to his last click. He Regens up and rolls a 5. Time gets called and that still alive Trader makes the difference in points and I lose 128-100.
Top 8 and it’s a re-match with Ricky. This time I try a different strategy. I do my regular set up of equipping and Sidestepping up, making sure to position that he can’t get a single target Pulsewave off on anyone except Lockjaw. He comes up and does a Pulsewave, hitting Lockjaw, Vulture, Unseen and 1 Big Tony each for 1. He Running Shots with the other Starfire to take out a Big Tony. I choose Support with Lockjaw to try and get Vulture back to top click but I miss. I call out Harley with Unseen for the double Perplex and have Vulture at a 13/4. I chose Perplex with Lockjaw to make up for the KO’d Tony and the fact that Wesley took damage on each roll for Perplex so he lost his special. I made it over to a Starfire and KO’d her which got me closer back to his other figures so I went after Mr. Oz. He had so many Probs that I ended up missing by 1 in the end – the difference of not being on top click from that Pulsewave and missing the Support back up. That ended my Vulture chain where I could have taken out Groot and moved over to Trader then over to the other Starfire.. but alas. He takes out Vulture. I phase Unseen closer to the team to be in place to call things in and be a Prob for Lockjaw. I Hypersonic with Lockjaw and do 1 damage to Trader. He gets a Walking Wood to Unseen and I miss both Rollouts and he dies from the 3 damage because of that Pulsewave from earlier. I call in Cyclops to try and finish off Trader by Perplexing up damage and I end up rolling doubles and the Knockback damage takes him out. He ended up getting in enough attacks to finish off Lockjaw and I lose 300-95. I tried something different and it didn’t work out this time. A well fought game but my day ends here and I head over to battle royals while Tom continues to play and ends up winning! Congrats to Tom and thanks for carpooling us all there!
2nd Constructed was at Comic Book Addiction in Whitby, ON.
Round 1 bye. It’s been a very long time since I’ve had a bye round that wasn’t at a weekly casual event where only 3 people showed up lol. I used this time to take notes for this blog on yesterdays WKO games while I had them fresh in my mind before getting them muddled with todays games. I also took the time to take a peek at the other games being played to see what all was out there.
Round 2 was against Jay. He’s playing Q prime, Unseen, Lockjaw, Trader with gem trait, Groot and Flora x3 with Nightbringer ring and ID cards. In playtesting, we have kind of a circle where each person almost always wins against someone and almost always loses against someone. Jay is my almost always loses against so I knew I had an uphill battle here. He put us on Mr.Chomps map and we both did our usual setting up – him doing a call in to get rid of my Octopus Arms and then me equipping Bloodaxe and sidestepping up. He rolled a 6 on Lockjaw and retreated with him. I sidestepped up a little and cleared. He rolled another 6 with Lockjaw and I decided to move up to be closer to his side because he had Outwitted my Charge on Vulture with Unseen. He was up on points so I knew I needed to try and gain a lead. Our match came down to what happened in the last 10 minutes as we were super close with him up on points before that. He called in Rusty to do a Energy Explosion on my team to KO the Big Tonys and do some damage to the rest of my clumped up team, except Wesley Crusher who wasn’t adjacent to them. He had a pocket 6 on Q so was able to make it a crit hit to deal everyone 3 damage, even after me using both my probs to try and avoid him rolling a 6. I retaled with Groot to KO Rusty and then I did something to surprise him on what ended up being my last turn and he didn’t it see coming – it’s not often that I get to do something that he doesn’t see! My lockjaw was on click 2 naturally, Running Shot/Pulsewave. Because most of my team was already close to the blocking in the middle of the map, I was able to sidestep them to safety. I took a move action with Groot to move him away. I had Wesley Crusher to Perplex my damage to 3. Used Unseen to call in Harley to Perplex the damage to 4 and went for a single target Pulsewave on his Unseen to KO it, putting me up on points. He retaled with Groot and then his Groot punched my Groot to KO him and the Walking Wood that was created ended up hitting high enough to KO Vulture, which put him up on points. I was about to push Lockjaw to Pulsewave his Q to death when time got called and I lost 130-96. What a super close and intense game. I was literally vibrating from how good of a match it was and it took me a few minutes into my next game to calm down from it. Probably one of the best games we’ve played.
Round 3 was with James. He was playing a really unique animal theme team of Lockjaw, Throg with Frogjolnir, Alopex and Dino-Thor. He put us on the Docks and moved Dino-Thor up to blow up my Symbiote (which I placed super bad on the rim instead of behind the square of blocking) and moved the rest of his team up into the center. I equipped the Octopus Arms and sidestepped up, staying back from the rim with my figures. I got Unseen in range to be able to outwit the Hypersonic on Dino-Thor. He moves back with Dino-Thor and clears the rest of his team. I call out with Unseen to get an extra Perplex on Vulture and Perplex up to a 14/5. Unseen was out of range of Dino-Thor so I chose Outwit with Lockjaw and Outwitted the Super Senses on Dino-Thor. I charged in and Flurried him to KO him. Then I went over to Throg and KO’d him. Then over to Alopex and he missed his roll outs. I think I missed the 2nd attack? My thoughts are a little fuzzy here. He was able to get Vulture to his last click. I think I called in a Cyclops to finish Alopex off. Then I just had to get through Lockjaw. Lockjaw finished off Vulture. I retaled to try and get a Walking Wood. He moved up Leslie to Outwit retal on Groot. I was able to chip away at his Lockjaw until I ended up winning 300-67.
Round 4 was against Jason. He was playing a mystical theme of Undertaker, Sheriff Strange, Tri-Sentinel, Alex Wilder, Billy Batson, Wendigo x2, Exospex and IDs. 
He put us on Necropolis and I chose the indoor side. I placed my objects to the very side to try and protect them a little but it didn’t help and only ended up hindering me for getting into place later. He Perplexed up movement on Undertaker and used Grand Entrance to call in Jean Grey. She used Running Shot to blow up my Symbiote and because she was within 3 of my objects, she was able to TK the Octopus Arms away to KO them too. He Sidestepped back with Undertaker to make her poof. I equipped the Bloodaxe and Sidestepped up. Wesley Crusher took damage for rolling Perplex so I took this chance of clearing everyone and moving up Wesley Crusher so he’d be in place to Perplex Vulture next turn. Jason calls in Cyclops to shoot through the wall at Wesley Crusher to take him out. The opened up the wall for me to be able to get through with Vulture though. I called in Cyclops to break one more square of blocking so I have the TK line for Lockjaw to send Vulture up the map. I use both Tonys Perplexes into attack and send Vulture out to take out the 2 Wendigos and Tri-Sentinel and then take a shot at Sheriff Strange. I hit, but he got his Super Senses. I had it lined up that I was going to use the Knockback to KO him and everything. I didn’t care that I had no more Charges built up from a Knockback KO, it would have been worth it. He called in Beast to one shot Vulture by Outwitting both Charge and Toughness then hitting for 5 and knocking him back for the KO. Jason was keeping track of the points on a notepad and I think I was up 109-102 at this point. He called in a Storm who one shot KO’d my Unseen and gave him a big lead. I tried to come back from it but couldn’t get enough damage in to KO anything else and time got called. I lost 172-114. It was a super tight game of back and forth and could have gone any way at any point in that game.
Because we only had 9 players, they cut to top 4 and I was 5th, so off to battle royals again for me. Congrats to Mike who took the win with his Mojo team!
Lastly, the Sealed at 401 Games in Toronto, ON.
I wasn’t super crazy with my pulls. I had nothing under 45 points for filler so it was really hard to make something that wasn’t super underbuilt. I also pulled 2 Nukes and 2 of the common Iron Man, so I was effectively building with 8 figures, not 10. I ended up playing a team with Mach X, Nick Fury, Taskmaster and Nuke. I had all the range and all the Energy Explosion, with 2 of them being able to see through Stealth. Every time I won map, I always chose Amok Time to try and limit the amount of places to hide from my range.
My first round opponent was Matt. He was playing a whole bunch of SHIELD guys, but not a theme team. He had SHIELD Officer, Nick Fury, Happy Hogan, Skein, Hawkeye and Blade. I won map and moved up a bit, almost out of his range, but if he wanted to put everything into 1 attack and over extend, he could have reached me. He chose not to and just moved his team up into the bit of hindering just outside the starting area, putting Skein in the middle of them all to give them Shape Change. I came up to Energy Explode on the group – Happy was in the middle of the front row. I knew if I could hit him, he’d lose Stealth and Nuke would be able to follow up, which is exactly what I did because he missed the Shape Change roll. I then also pushed Mach X to also Energy Explode. I took out 3 of his pieces. He said he was shocked at how quick his team fell apart to a bunch of 2 damage attacks, but he didn’t really have reducers, so being able to do 2 damage, 3 times, meant a whole bunch. He attacked with the Officer on Mach X for 1 with Precision Strike. I energy Exploded again with Nick and rolled a Crit Hit, which got the Officer and hit Nick to his Stop click. He moved Nick to behind Skein and I Energy Exploded on her, finishing them both off and winning 300-0. I just happened to have the exact counter against his team by seeing through Stealth and out ranging him – it was just a really bad matchup for him but he was a pleasure to play as always.
Round 2 was Jason. He had an Avengers theme team of Immortal Hulk, Black Panther, Winter Soldier and Pepper Pots. Jason won map and put us on Necropolis. I chose the outdoor side. He moved up his group hiding behind blocking to make the angles hard for me. I moved up a little to get closer for the next turn. He chose not to overextend to come to me and cleared. I cleared too so I wasn’t going in double tokened. He perplexed up defense and passed. I Perplexed up Nick Fury’s movement so I could get to Black Panther. I also Perplexed up attack. Then I used SHIELD team ability to with Taskmaster to give him plus 1 damage and went for the Running Shot on Black Panther alone, not an Energy Explosion. I didn’t want to activate Hulk. I hit, he theme probed me and I missed. He hit Nick to Stop and I rolled a 6 and moved him way behind blocking so he couldn’t finish him off. I pushed Mach X to shoot winter Soldier with Psychic Blast then shot with Nuke to finish him off. He charged in with Hulk to KO Nuke. I shot at Black Panther with Precision Strike with Mach X and hit and then Outwit Charge on Hulk with Nick. I tried to shoot at Hulk with Nick and crit missed myself to death. I pushed Mach X to try and KO Black Panther for some more points but missed and he Charged in to finish Mach X off. I lost 295-75.
Round 3 was with Amber. I was so glad she was able to make it out to an event. I don’t get to see her often and I was missing hanging out with her! She had a hodgepodge team of Red Skull, uncommon Iron Man, rare Baron Zemo, Aleksander Lukin and Sharon Carter. This game was very similar to my first game with Matt. I won map and greatly outranged her. I moved up to just outside her range. I had to use my Perplexes on movement to get into place to reach her because of Baron Zemo, but Energy Explosion after Energy Explosion and I was able to take out her team and she just couldn’t get to me. Attacks that she tried to make, she missed and I was rolling hot and getting 9’s when I needed 9’s. I won 285-0.
Round 4 was against Manny. He had Ghost Rider, Winter Soldier, Roz Solomon and Nick Fury. I won map and he didn’t like that I put us somewhere so open and he mentioned that losing map might have cost him the game. That couldn’t have been more wrong. He rolls Leadership with Nick and brings in a SHIELD Agent. I moved up again, baiting with Taskmaster if he wants to overextend. He does and comes up and Outwits Energy Shied on Taskmaster and Impervious on Mach X and Energy Explodes with Nick after getting his SHIELD guys in place to get the range, thanks to getting that SHIELD Agent out and I don’t get my Super Senses with Taskmaster. I Running Shot with my Nick to Energy Explode doing 1 to his Nick and Roz and SHIELD Agent rolls Super Senses. I Outwit Winter Soldiers defense and Energy Explode with Nuke and crit hit which he theme probed me into a miss. I shot Winter Soldier with Taskmaster and hit. I pushed Mach X and missed. He finished of Taskmaster by Outwitting Super Senses. Then he rammed through the rest of my team with Ghost Rider, KOing Mach X and Nuke and putting Nick on Stop and giving him the flame marker. Then he moved the SHIELD Agent over next to me. I punched him to get the 15 points and the successful hit caused me to KO myself from the flame marker. I lost 295-15.
I ended up coming in 7th but they cut to top 4, so I played in a battle royal and got to fill in a few holes in my collection while my two losses faced in top 2. Congrats to Manny who ended up with the win after a crazy finish. I can’t wait to hear Jason tell his WKO recap of that final game on the Meta Lab.
There’s a possibility of hitting 1 more WKO this season if we decide to do a carpool trip on March 1 and you know I’ll share about that if we do! I hope everyone had fun at all the WKOs you were able to get to. I’d love to hear how you did and what you played in yours, leave a comment below!
Until next time, xoxo