Avengers League: Sean Whitmore v. Will.S

[Jessica Drew]

Welcome to the ninth match of the Avengers League! If you haven't been following the league, it is a large scale series of battles where posters draft teams and pit their teams against that of other posters, and you vote to decide who wins. When voting, please consider the strategies the players have written, rather than just the team's roster.

Each match is taking place on an empty battlefield, 100 yards away, and each character (with few exceptions) depicted is in his/her most frequent incarnation (therefore, no Iron Spidey or Extremis Iron Man), and the characters have to act in character (meaning that the heroes cannot kill if they aren't normally wont to do so).

If you have any questions about the strategies, please feel free to post these questions here, and the players will answer. The match will last twenty-four hours. After that time period, the player with the largest number of votes wins.

!!! - For your vote to count, you must have a post count of no lower than fifty.

Sean Whitmore's team: Thor, Adam Warlock, Wiccan, Tommy Shepherd, Moonstone, Rick Jones, Kurt Busiek

Will.S's team: Quicksilver, Vision, Justice, Hawkeye, Wonder Man, Black Knight II, Yellowjacket, She-Hulk

[Jessica Drew]

Sean Whitmore's strategy:

FIRST MOVES - Performed simultaneously

-Tommy Shepard and Wiccan:
Tommy starts things with an attempt to fend off Quicksilver, who is doubtless charging them. He runs in a circle around his own team, setting off low-yield explosions all around, keeping Pietro from getting too near him or his team. (Tommy may not be as fast as Pietro, but he can surely run 10 feet before Pietro can run 100) Tommy continues running interception, using his explosives to make up for the difference in their speed and keep Pietro at bay. He can't keep it up for long, but he doesn't have to.

Wiccan's first move is both defensive and offensive. He chants a spell that commands whatever arrow(s) Hawkeye sends their way to target Quicksilver instead. He should have time for this spell, since Hawkeye's vision would be momentarily obscured by the clouds of dust raised by Tommy's explosions. Between Wiccan's magic, Tommy's distraction and the fact that he isn't expecting them, the arrows hit Pietro and do whatever damage they do. If the arrow's payload isn't sufficient to knock Pietro out, it will at least stun him for a moment, allowing Wiccan to follow through with enough lightning to put him down for the count. On the very slim chance that Hawkeye doesn't fire an arrow, Wiccan chants a mantra to make Pietro trip up, to the same end effect.

-Adam Warlock and Moonstone:
Warlock's superior reflexes allow him to fire a soul blast at Justice, putting him on the defensive before the youth can attack. Warlock keeps up the assault, also sending a few blasts Black Knight's way, which are easily blocked by his sword or shield.

Moonstone rises to meet the Vision in the air. This is merely a stalling confrontation. The two phase in and out of intangibility, trading optic beams and power blasts. Neither one is able to affect the other, but the momentary stalemate keeps either combatant from targeting the other's team. Vision should be especially concerned about this, as his team has several members who aren't invulnerable, and Moonstone has no big problem with killing. Vision can't even spare a moment to fire lasers at anyone else, for Moonstone will use that moment to strike.

-Thor:
Thor lets loose with Mjlonir immediately, heaving it across the battlefield at one of two enemies. If Yellowjacket has grown, the hammer nails him square under the jaw, knocking him cold. If Pym shrinks or stays human-sized, Thor throws it into She-Hulk's gut, carrying her across the field as far away as possible, and knocking the wind out of her for a good couple minutes. This leaves Thor charging barehanded (for a moment) into Wonder Man and whichever powerhouse Mjlonir didn't hit.

-Rick Jones and Kurt Busiek:
Rick keeps his distance behind the Thor/Wonder Man slobberknocker. Busiek gets into a trivia contest with Mark Waid.


Result: Quicksilver is out. Possibly Yellowjacket.
(Note: if Quicksilver starts things off with a galeforce blast of wind instead of charging, Thor counters by spinning Mjlonir counter-clockwise and dispersing it before he attacks Pym/She-Hulk. If Pietro doesn't do anything, Tommy attacks him first. Either way, the rest of the first round proceeds the same)

SECOND MOVES

-Tommy Shepard and Wiccan
Tommy immediately speeds across the battlefield, dodging any subsequent arrows and reaching Hawkeye in an instant. He explodes Hawkeye's quiver, which as we know, is instant death for the bowman. Nah, just kidding, he takes Clint out with a series of a hundred or so punches in a second. He then speeds over to Black Knight and taunts him, easily deflecting the Knight's blade.

Wiccan concentrates on an intense mantra focused on the Black Knight. He wills the ebony blade's blood curse to return in a hyper-quick-acting manner. wiccan then calls out to Warlock (this nasty idea was all his, naturally), after which he and Tommy advance on Justice.

-Adam Warlock and Moonstone
Warlock breaks off his battle with Justice on Wiccan's signal and flies down to the Black Knight. He grabes the ebony blade in mid-swing and, with a wicked grin, squeezes until it cuts his hand. Black Knight immediately locks up, taking on the properties of the blade itself. Warlock grabs the statuesque Knight and uses his preternatural knowhow to wait for the next exact instant that Vision is tangible. When he is, Warlock heaves the razor-sharp Whitman at the android, cleanly slicing him in two. (Hell, because of the sword's magical properties, maybe it can even cut through Vision when he's intangible, I dunno).

-Thor and Rick Jones
With Mjlonir back in hand (Wondy, Pym, or Shulkie don't possess the power to stop this), Thor takes to the air to battle Wonder Man on equal terms. Thor smashes the jets and brings Wonder Man down to the earth, where Thor battles him and She-Hulk together. If Pym made it past the first move, a lightning bolt or a little Mjlonir chin music puts him down this time. If Pym has shrunken, Rick Jones has at him with rocks or a rolled-up newspaper or whatever he has. Rick will be taken down in about a minute, but he's enough to keep Pym from flying into Thor's ear or something.


Result: Hawkeye is out. Black Knight and Vision are out. Yellowjacket may be out.


FINAL MOVES

-Tommy Shepard and Wiccan work together to get past Justice's TK field with their lightning and explosions. If he has to, Wiccan casts a spell to dissolve them, and Tommy knocks him out.

-Adam Warlock, Moonstone, and Thor
Warlock and Moonstone help Thor with the remaining powerhouses. If Pym is SOMEHOW still around and shrunken, Warlock effortlessly snatches him out of the air and takes him out with a soul blast from his staff. The two of them work together to whittle down a flightless Wonder Man (Warlock himself has taken him down in the past).

Thor focuses solely on She-Hulk. She puts up a helluva struggle, but between Thor's superior fighting skills and Mjlonirs lightning bolts, it's only a matter of time before she's down. If Wonder Man is somehow still standing, Thor assists the others and takes him down as well. If Justice was able to overcome the boys, the three of them take him out.

-Kurt Busiek
The Mighty Busiek wins his trivia contest by knowing the real names and planets of origin of every member of the Guardians of the Galaxy.


Result: Justice is out. Wonder Man and She-Hulk are out. Yellowjacket is FINALLY out FOR SURE.

[Jessica Drew]

Will.S's strategy:

Seeing as how Thor and Adam Warlock are my biggest threats here, they take up the first priority while battling the other heroes so here's the strategy. Hawkeye commands the teams to split up using their bigger numbers to pair off against the heavier hitters.

Step 1: Simultaneous actions: Wonder Man and She-Hulk charge at Thor, Vision and Justice start start an air assault against Adam Warlock, Quicksilver and Tommy Shepard speed towards each other, Yellowjacket vs Wiccan, Hawkeye and Black Knight against Moonstone while Kurt Busiek and Rick Jones look on in awe.

Step 2: Wonder Man and She-Hulk keep Thor busy in melee combat enough to buy Vision time to join the them.

Warlock is engaged in an aerial battle between Vision and Justice. Warlock aims for Vision with an energy blast and turns intangible while Justice erects a TK shield to deaden Warlock's energy blast. As Vision is intangible he phases through Warlock and blasts him with his solar beams behind his back. Justice follows up by ramming him in the head still under the TK shield. Warlock coils back and at light speed and tries to speed blitz Justice, his TK shields (while strong) are starting to break down under the pressure and using that advantage Warlock goes in for a final blow but he seemed to have forgotten that Vision is still around. Vision now behind him increases his fists to maximum density and punches Adam Warlock into a daze. As a last ditch effort to get rid of the pesky one, Warlock uses the Soul Gem to aquire Vision's soul but notices that he has none. Stunned, Vision reaches in to Warlock's chest area with hands phased and slowly turns up the density. Justice from afar fires up a tremendous TK force blast that takes a toll on his body and knocks out Adam. Vision catches the unconcious Justice in the air and sets him down gently.

Meanwhile Tommy and Quicksilver are busily trying to speed blitz each other Quicksilver quips "You are fast young Tommy but I'm faster and more experienced!". Quicksilver turns it up a notch and exceeds Tommy's speed bringing him up to supersonic speeds. Tommy tires and becomes confused as to where Quicksilver went, not a good idea. Quicksilver comes around him breaking the sound barrier multiple times creating loud enough sonic booms to deafen Tommy temporarily, what Tommy also doesn't know is that Quicksilver is creating an F4 whirlwind cyclone lifting him hundreds of feet into the air. Kurt Busiek and Rick Jones get too close and get sucked into the vortex and get knocked into each other. Tommy tries to see where Quicksilver is during the maelstrom and uses his molecular acceleration to try to stop him but it's too late, the whirlwind is dissapating and he's reached too a great a height great for his speed to compensate and blacks out during the fall back to earth. Quicksilver matches the exact speed of his fall with the speed of his current running velocity and catches him as he's unconcious and says "One day he'll make a great Avenger".

Vision joins the melee of Wonder Man and She-Hulk going on an all out assault on Thor. Wonder Man flys up using his rocket belt and starts a dive bomb while She-Hulk goes hand to hand with Thor. She-Hulk gets staggered by a mighty punch and Thor notices Wonder-Man coming at him at full speed. He hurls mjolnir at Simon and Wonder Man crosses his hands in front of him bracing for impact. A mighty boom is heard in the air as Wonder Man falls down towards the ground. Thor hammerless for the moment is still concentrating on receicing mjolnir back but She-Hulk grabs Thor by the legs and trips him. On the way down where his face will soon meet pavement Vision slams down at Thor's head at max density giving Wonder Man enough time to get back on his feet.

Wiccan vs Yellowjacket. Yellowjacket has the advantage if size changing which can make him very tricky to hit and can become anyone's worst nightmare when big enough. While Wiccan flies up into the air starting to brew up some lightning spells. Yellowjacket rapidly grows to 100 feet and prevents the lightning from raining down on him by smackking Wiccan down with the back of his hand. Wiccan while flying back closes his eyes casts a spell of protection so that he lands unharmed during the crash. He opens his eyes and is amazed to see that he's ok, going back to the matter at hand he notices that Yellowjacket is gone. Little does he know that a flurry of ants is coming right at him with Yellowjacket in in the size of an ant flying right at him from below. Hank jumps and flys at him at full speed and begins to grow which makes the leaping punch at Wiccan all the more powerful putting him into a daze, susprised at Wiccan's resiliance (the spell must be wearing off) he unleashes a flurry stinger blasts at him with his at low frequency.

Hawkeye and Black Knight w/Aragorn vs Moonstone. Black Knight commands the air with his faithful steed Aragorn while Hawkeye commands the ground assault. Airborne, Black Knight charges at at Moonstone with his steed and ebony blade ready to cut. Moonstone turns intangible and directs her attention to Hawkeye who readies some special arrows for her. She tries to blast him while closing in but to no avail, Clint leaps and rolls out of the way with precision and grace enough to do Cap proud and unleashes his anti-phase arrow which makes her solid again.

Black Knight uses the opportunity to close in on her again while she's still dealing with Clint. She becomes fed up and unleashes a burst of light in trying to blind Clint but he covers his eyes, within that time frame she finally catches up to Hawkeye picks him up and is ready to punch lights out but Hawkeye smiles and she asks "What's so funny?" *BAM* Black Knight hits her in the back of the head with the hilt of the sword. Dazed she falls back which gives Hawkeye the opportunity to use the sonic arrow to deafen her and follows up with a bola arrow to entangle her in her daze and an electric trip arrow to incapacitate her.

Step 3: Back to Wonder Man, Vision, She-Hulk and Thor continue the final fight. Also with Adam Warlock, Wiccan, Tommy, and Moonstone taken out, it gives time for Quicksilver, Black Knight and Hawkeye to join the fight. With Thor's hammer out of his hands and Wonder Man given sufficient time to recover, he is now able to pound away at Thor without having to worry about the hammer returning to his hands just yet. Thor staggers back up and Vision turns intangible and goes right behind him in a grapple and increases his density again to 90 tons. This acts as a weight on Thor enough for She-Hulk and Wonder man to hit Thor in the face and in the gut.

In rush Yellowjacket, Quicksilver, Hawkeye and Black Knight. Vision does a good job in holding Thor but they realize that eventually an enraged Thor will break free of Vision's hold. Yellowjacket once again shrinks down to ant size size again and enters Thor's ear while he struggles to break free of Vision's grasp, and he does.

Thor calls back Mjolnir and it comes to his hand as the team fears the worst, Thor is going to call upon lightning and Thunder to rain down on upon all of them. The clouds turn black as night and thunder is heard from afar Quicksilver and Black Knight react first as he speedily propels BK and plunges Black Knight and his sword into Thor's shoulder. As all this happens Vision rises into the air on a tactic done to Gilgamesh and Nefaria previously and rises to earth atmosphere. Back to the ground fight, Thor smack's both out of the way but becomes weakened by the ebony sword within him slowly draining his energies. She-Hulk and Wonder Man do their own little fast ball special move and She-Hulk launches Wonder Man at Thor (also using thrust from the rockets) which continues to weaken Thor and his casting spell for unleashing thunder. Wonder Man takes out the sword and throws it back at Black Knight before getting hit with the brunt end of a Mjolnir attack. Finally Thor develops a headache as Hank has been unleashing a flurry of punches and stinger blasts to his brain staggering Thor to the floor.

Time is running out and there's only a few more attacks left to finish the job. Hawekeye shoots an explosion arrow at his chest, She-Hulk helps Black Knight up to hold his ebony sword once again and unleash it's absorbed energies back at Thor. He shoots an enormous beam from the sword redirecting Thor's stored energies back at him. He gets knocked back to the floor, "Fools!" he says as he tries to get back up. "Do these mortals know that they fights a GOD!?!" he hears the faint whistling sound getting closer and looks up in the sky, is it a missle? No, it's the Vision hitting his last target from many atmosphere's up with the density of a mountain.

*BOOM!*

A crater is made and the mighty Thor has finally fallen. Hawkeye says, "Mere mortals? Try Avengers pal!".

[kentonator]

WOW i think this is one of my favorite fights so far, you both did excellent! I want to hear some arguements but right now Im leaning towards Sean. I liked his opening move to keep Quicksilver at bay, and Will seemed to think Quicksilver and tommy are gonna go at it in the mid. Thor seems to have all his bases covered taking out one with a hammer then smashing on the other.

The things im not sure about are the strats for Vision, I think vision could be more of a help than he played here,

Great fight, I wanna hear what others say before i vote.

[Atom_basher]

I voted for Will, both strategies were amazing IMHO but I think Sean's geled a TINY bit more

[Sean Whitmore]

I voted for Will


Twice, from the look of it. I'm hurt. :)


SEAN

[Atom_basher]

Twice, from the look of it. I'm hurt. :)


SEAN

i have no idea how that happened HAHAHAHAH

[Jessica Drew]

i have no idea how that happened HAHAHAHAH

When I mentioned in the Avengers League thread to "vote early and vote often," I was joking. I had no idea Atom_basher would take it seriously.:D

[Dark Soul # 7]

This is always hard.

I voted for Sean because I think most of his counters counters Will's. Sean's use of Tommy was rather brilliant.

That's all I have for now, I'm sleepy.

[Sean Whitmore]

A lotta voting being done, and hardly any discussion!

Will, I challenge. You know good and hell well the Vision can't fly. Nyah.


SEAN

[Jessica Drew]

Sean, it looks like Atom_basher and Hannah are triple-teaming you. :D

[Atom_basher]

Sean, it looks like Atom_basher and Hannah are triple-teaming you. :D


HAHAHAHAHAH didnt you know, im multiple man


COME ON PEOPLE, vote.

[Sean Whitmore]

Sean, it looks like Atom_basher and Hannah are triple-teaming you. :D


A variety of jokes went through my head, but none of which I could say without I wouldn't feel weird about it after, so a simple: "Ah, nuts!" will have to surfice. :)


SEAN

[Atom_basher]

Sean, it looks like Atom_basher and Hannah are triple-teaming you. :D


That brings up an interesting point, you would think me and Hannah would team up and throw our votes behind one person to muscle another player out, but interestingly enough, this is the first time the both of us have voted the same.

[Jared_Humpherys]

I think Sean's move counter Will S's better than the other way around. Sean's use of Tommy and Wiccan speeding up the Ebony Blade's curse were both very clever.

[Will.S]

Will, I challenge. You know good and hell well the Vision can't fly. Nyah.
Whaaaaaaaat?!? :eek:

[Grazzt]

Whaaaaaaaat?!? :eek:

I believe Sean Whitmore was messing with your head. The correct response would have been to have him confirm that Thor has Mjolnir in at least 50 percent of his appearances, with scanned proof. ;)

[Will.S]

I believe Sean Whitmore was messing with your head. The correct response would have been to have him confirm that Thor has Mjolnir in at least 50 percent of his appearances, with scanned proof. ;)
Heheh, indeed.

[Sean Whitmore]

I believe Sean Whitmore was messing with your head. The correct response would have been to have him confirm that Thor has Mjolnir in at least 50 percent of his appearances, with scanned proof. ;)


And what's with this "Quicksilver running fast" nonsense? That must be new, because the Pietro I know had super hearing and nothing else. Yeesh, talk about blatant cheating... ;)


SEAN

[Will.S]

And what's with this "Quicksilver running fast" nonsense? That must be new, because the Pietro I know had super hearing and nothing else. Yeesh, talk about blatant cheating... ;)


SEAN
LOL, nice one there Sean old pal.

But anyway, Sean has some good strats but Thor is the biggest threat on there realistically given his insane damage and energy soak. I've found that the best way to take on Thor is to seperate him from Mjolnir and take advantage and since Wonder Man can take Thor without Mjolnir most of the time it can work, he's beaten Abomination who's class 100 and held his own with Hulk. Observe this fight courtesy of Lucid Lui in the KMC forums:

http://img507.imageshack.us/img507/3508/thor212az0fa.jpg

http://img507.imageshack.us/img507/745/thor229cd5qs.jpg

http://img507.imageshack.us/img507/3295/thor235ni5oo.jpg

http://img507.imageshack.us/img507/3689/wondermanvsthor3d6kv7xl.jpg

Simon goes down but mostly due to the hammer. Multiple characters in unison with a strategy able to use both mystic power and brute strength also helps.

[Sean Whitmore]

Good lord, it's still a tie...this is nerve-wracking. I had half a mind to vote for Will myself just to end this so I don't have it on my mind the rest of the night.


SEAN

[Sean Whitmore]

4am now and we're still fricking tied....arrrrrgh!


SEAN

[Lex]

Got in under the wire!

[Jessica Drew]

Because both Hannah AND Atom_basher voted--and also because Atom_basher voted twice--I have to knock two votes from Will's total, which gives this match to Sean Whitmore, 10-8.

[Dark Soul # 7]

Nevermind.

[Atom_basher]

Because both Hannah AND Atom_basher voted--and also because Atom_basher voted twice--I have to knock two votes from Will's total, which gives this match to Sean Whitmore, 10-8.
'

I havea question regarding that, what if me and hannah vote differently, which we have everytie until this match, do our votes cancel eachothers out?

[Jessica Drew]

'

I havea question regarding that, what if me and hannah vote differently, which we have everytie until this match, do our votes cancel eachothers out?

The second vote is cancelled out.

Today's first match coming up soon. It would have been up earlier, but I accidentally deleted Jared's strategy.

[Sean Whitmore]

That was a hell of a battle! (both the fictional one and the real one)

Thanks for the great fight, Will. :)


SEAN

[Will.S]

Because both Hannah AND Atom_basher voted--and also because Atom_basher voted twice--I have to knock two votes from Will's total, which gives this match to Sean Whitmore, 10-8.
Argh! Lost another match, this totally lowered my morale. I put so much effort into this strategy too :(

Anyway, good fight Sean.