DC League: Jared_Humpherys vs. StarsAndGarters & K'Nort

[Jessica Drew]

Welcome to the next match of the 2007 DC League! The DC League is a large-scale series of battles—a tournament—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 at night in the middle of an abandoned city street 100 yards away from each other, and each character (with few exceptions) depicted is in his/her most frequent incarnation (with few exceptions), 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.

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

Today’s second match: Jared_Humpherys vs. StarsAndGarters & K'Nort

Jared_Humpherys: Mary Marvel, Mad Hatter, Tattooed Man, Coldcast, Bizarro, Black Mass, Granny Goodness, Turtle Man, Enchantress, Crimson Fox

StarsAndGarters & K’Nort: Jay Garrick, John Stewart, Jericho, Deadshot, Shimmer, Hawkman, Fire, Adam Strange, Sarge Steel

[Jessica Drew]

Jared_Humpherys strategy:

Start of the round:

Enchantress creates a magical force field around my team as Turtle Man's presence automatically cancels out any super-speed used by the opposing team(see the last issue of Rogue War). Turtle Man will also focus on draining all of their kinetic energy, including Deadshot's bullets. Considering he once drained the energy of an entire city, this should be no problem. Assisting him in this will be Coldcast, who has used his powers to halt the electron motion of Superman himself, effectively freezing him in time. Coldcast will use this power on all of my foes. Combined with Turtle Man's powers, they should be helpless. But just in case, Black Mass will use his gravity powers to increase my enemies' weight by a factor of 10, further slowing them down(Hawkman, with his Nth metal , may be able to shrug off this last measure, but the other two should get him). Bizarro also gives them a taste of his freeze vision(especially Fire), while Mary Marvel intercepts any incoming attacks.

At the same time as all of this, Mad Hatter launches a mental assault with his thinking cap(see Secret Six), directing the brunt of it at Jericho. Jervis will focus on either taking out Jericho entirely, or preventing him from mentally transferring his mind to one of my teammates. Now, it's likely that John Stewart will attempt to shield his teammates with his ring. However, with everyone on said team slowed to a crawl, that will be quite difficult. Additionally, the Tattooed Man will send all of his constructs after John. These constructs were able to keep Hal Jordan quite occupied(and according to Batman, each is capable of destroying a building), so they should do the same for Mr. Stewart. Crimson Fox and Granny Goodness lie in wait behind Enchantress' shields.


Within seconds:


Turtle Man gives Mary Marvel all of the speed he has absorbed, allowing her to move far beyond her normal top speed. With it, she gently knocks unconscious the members of the opposing team before they have time to react(particularly Jericho, using her other super-senses to find him, allowing her to avoid eye-contact). Enchantress focuses on countering Shimmer's powers while Bizarro joins in on pounding John Stewart. With him too distracted to maintain mental shielding, Mad Hatter takes over Shimmer's mind and makes her turn the air in the teammates close to her's lungs into water. Coldcast now fires an enormous energy pulse at the opposing team, clearing the way for Crimson Fox to get in close to the males(particularly Deadshot, who has a weakness to attractive women) and use her pheromone powers. Black Mass continues to use his gravity abilities to crush my opponents.


Afterwards, tea and scones for all! With hats, of course

[Jessica Drew]

StarsAndGarters's & K'Nort's strategy:

Stage 1 (Immediately):

> The Flash dashes across the field to Bizarro and challenges him in Bizarro-speak to “not race” around the city until “the fight has begun” to see who is “slower.” Jay reminds Bizarro that Zoom had a chance to race him recently (in a Villains United tie-in) and now Jay would like a turn. If Bizarro accepts the deal, off they go. If not, Jay will pester Bizarro to get him to chase him. Odds are about as good as not that Bizarro, a very chaotic being, will abandon the battle and start racing.
> Green Lantern lifts off and constructs a giant arcade toy crane machine which plucks the Enchantress and Coldcast from what they’re doing and contains them within itself.
> Shimmer, at John’s order, morphs the nearest rock or lamp post into a blue rock which we’ll come back to later. As soon as she’s done that, she charges off towards the Tattooed Man, ready to use her powers on his living tattoos. Since the Tattooed Man gains power from absorbing sins, he would probably engage Shimmer anyway, since she’s our team’s only through-and-through villain.
> Jericho waits until Coldcast is contained and then takes control of him.
> Hawkman soars forward to engage Mary Marvel, mainly to keep her busy.
> Deadshot, using a night-vision scope and a sniper rifle, takes aim and plugs two tranquilizer darts into Black Mass. Being a larger character, the extra dose is necessary to take him down quickly.
> Adam Strange hands off his laser pistols to Sarge Steel. He then activates his rocket pack and picks up Deadshot to drop him at a better vantage point higher up once he’s finished firing at Black Mass. Preferably they land on a balcony overlooking the battlefield in the street. Throughout the exercise, Deadshot frantically shouts “Left! Right! Up! Away from the building!” to direct poor, blinded Adam.
> Fire flies forward until she’s just within range where she can torch Mad Hatter’s hat, leaving him with nothing to do.
> Sarge Steel pops off a few shots at Crimson Fox across the battlefield to attract her attention.

At the end of Stage 1, Bizarro is distracted or engaged, Tattooed Man, Mary Marvel and Crimson Fox are engaged, Coldcast is enthralled, Enchantress is contained, Black Mass and Mad Hatter are subdued.

Stage 2 (Within Seconds):

> The Flash continues to race Bizarro or keep him occupied.
> Coldcast, now under Jericho’s thrall, uses his energy manipulation powers to make lightning strike Mary Marvel. This should hurt her and disorient her enough that…
> Hawkman can deliver a swift blow from his mace to the back of Mary’s head, knocking her lights out.
> Deadshot, from his new perch, draws a bead on Enchantress and nails her with a tranq dart. Being her former teammate, Deadshot should know what defenses she would have to attacks and know how to work around them.
> Sarge Steel switches targets and zaps Granny Goodness until she gives up, leaving Crimson Fox for…
> Fire, who pours on the heat, keeping Crimson Fox busy enough dodging that she can’t do anything else.
> Green Lantern, having let go Coldcast and Enchantress, turns his attention to Turtle Man and similarly traps him with the arcade pincers.
> Shimmer turns one of the Tattooed Man’s tattoo constructs, particularly the one closest to him, into toxic gas. This Tattooed Man may not be very susceptible to pain, but not being able to breathe will take care of him. If it doesn’t, Tattooed Man will be Deadshot’s next target.

At the end of Stage 2, Bizarro is distracted or engaged, Crimson Fox is engaged, Coldcast is enthralled, Turtle Man is contained, Tattooed Man, Mary Marvel, Black Mass, Mad Hatter, Granny Goodness and Enchantress are subdued.

Stage 3 (Within Minutes):

> Green Lantern keeps Turtle Man contained. He also gets a hold of Crimson Fox to keep her from moving long enough for…
> Deadshot to take the shot to get Crimson Fox unconscious.
> Shimmer turns all the air inside John’s arcade machine into sleeping gas, rendering Turtle Man unconscious.
> Sarge Steel defends Jericho’s body.
> The Flash and Bizarro end the race, now that everybody else is subdued. If Bizarro is in the mood to fight…
> Hawkman picks up the blue rock from earlier and shoves it in Bizarro’s face. Bizarro is suddenly weak, and the blue rock is revealed to be Blue Kryptonite that Shimmer conjured up. Hawkman then beats him unconscious.

At the end of Stage 2, Bizarro is distracted or engaged, Coldcast is enthralled, Crimson Fox, Tattooed Man, Mary Marvel, Black Mass, Mad Hatter, Turtle Man, Granny Goodness and Enchantress are subdued.

Stage 4 (Eventually):

> Deadshot tranqs up Coldcast and…
> Jericho withdraws.
> The team celebrates that they’ve won!

[Sean Whitmore]

At first glance, Jared looks to have won this rather soundly. Though I've gotta give both of them a thorough re-read before I vote to find any gaps.


SEAN

[Kara Zor El]

Nice strats guys. Hmmm!!!
Flash dashing across the field to engage Bizarro is canceled out by Turtle Man. So that doesn't happen. But even if Flash reached Bizarro and they started a dialog, surely other team mates of Bizarro would attack Flash?

Turtle Man is also left to operate for to long. Deadshot can't fire and then Mary gets the speed. These could be deciding factors. But I won't decide yet. I'm leaning toward Jared but I'll listen to your debating and the thoughts of the other players and spectators, before making my decision.

[TheCrisisKid]

I felt Jared's strategy required less in the beginning and was more potent. Any tactics from SaG's team would have been stopped if Jared's strategy is pulled off like he says. Even the Flash, who might had gotten through maybe the turtle man would be stopped by the other two weight manipulators. As much as I think Coldcast might not be able to stop the whole group of people by himself, the group of 3 could probably slow down everyone if not stop them indefinitely.

I felt the longer the match went on, SaG's strategy kept getting bigger and harder to accomplish, but Jared's strategy was pretty precise and shouldn't have too many problems.

Good job both of you. Gotta give this one to Jared though.

[PastePotPete]

Both strategies were fun to read, but for my money, Jared's field of kinetic-energy-draining, motion-freezing, high gravity punishment wins the day. Combined with his Mary Marvel catapult, the strategy is just air-tight.

[PastePotPete]

rassle frassin' duplicate freakin' post

[Sean Whitmore]

Both strategies were fun to read, but for my money, Jared's field of kinetic-energy-draining, motion-freezing, high gravity punishment wins the day. Combined with his Mary Marvel catapult, the strategy is just air-tight.

Yeah, I don't want to vote until either K'nort or StarsAndGarters has their say, but I don't see how they can explain their way out of this one.


SEAN

[matt_hatyber]

i might be wrong but werent the rules you have to stay with in the battle field? so flash and bizzaro couldnt run around the city in a race the msot they could do is run in like a big circle??

[K'Nort]

i might be wrong but werent the rules you have to stay with in the battle field? so flash and bizzaro couldnt run around the city in a race the msot they could do is run in like a big circle??

That was checked with Jessica in advance but not by me and SnG is at work for a couple hours yet, I'm afraid. He'll log on as soon as he gets home.


I'm also not one who knows much about the Rogues. So I'm wondering about range and control. Can Turtle Man (and Coldcast) exert that much power from that great a distance without also affecting their teammates? Especially with the risk of the forceshield bouncing some of that back? I tend to generally think of the initial distance that Jessica assigned as being out of instantaneous range for a lot of powers.

[Lex]

Right now I'm leaning toward K'Nort and StarsAndGarters. Their strategy was extremely fun and inventive. Everything from the Flash/Bizzaro race to Adam Strange and Deadshot to the surprise of Blue Kryptonite at the end was really fun. Very good strategy!

But I'll wait to see what they, and Jared, say before voting.

[Atom_basher]

That was checked with Jessica in advance but not by me and SnG is at work for a couple hours yet, I'm afraid. He'll log on as soon as he gets home.


I'm also not one who knows much about the Rogues. So I'm wondering about range and control. Can Turtle Man (and Coldcast) exert that much power from that great a distance without also affecting their teammates? Especially with the risk of the forceshield bouncing some of that back? I tend to generally think of the initial distance that Jessica assigned as being out of instantaneous range for a lot of powers.

I was fairly sure i was going to vote for jared after reading these strategies but has turtle ever shown selective control over this effect, or has he ever created pockets of control? i would think extending he filed would effect his team mates

[Sean Whitmore]

Well, my vote has suddenly become superfluous, but I'd like to hear about Turtle Man myself.


SEAN

[StarsAndGarters]

Very nice strategy Jared!

I think it comes down to whether Jared's initial moves with Turtle Man, Coldcast and Black Mass can get off the ground. I think two out of the three are more easily dismissed. Black Mass is one of Deadshot's first targets within the first second or two, so he's out. Coldcast is getting taken care of rather abruptly by John. We were banking on them taking a second or two to access their powers on a massive, controlled scale, so I think it's reasonable to say we can beat them to the punch.

As you said, neither of those efforts will work if Turtle Man sucks all of our kinetic energy from us. But! When I read the recent Infinte Crisis tie-ins (Flash #213 and #217) that featured Turtle Man, he was using a much more indiscriminant field than the way we're talking about here. I didn't get the impression that he could direct it, so if he tried to pull this off and slow us down, I think he'd slow down his own team. I don't have direct access to the issues, though so I wouldn't claim to have the final word on it.

[BWilly]

I voted for StarsAndGarters & K'Nort. Because of my doubts about the initial defensive moves. I didn't think that Turtle Man had that kind of control over his power. I'm pretty sure that it would slow down his team as well.

[Kara Zor El]

Ok then, this all hangs on Turtle Man's powers. If he can do what he does in Jared's strat then Jared will have my vote. But if not, then I'll go with S&K.

[Jared H.]

Turtle Man had enough precise control to lend speed to both Flash(causing him to run out of control), and to stationary objects, causing them to hurl themselves at Wally. Additionally, he was able to drain speed force directly from Flash's muscles by touch.

[Kara Zor El]

Even if Turtle Man couldn't stop Flash. I can't exept that Flash would be able to chat Bizarro into a race without being stopped by the others. He just wouldn't have time to do it before Mary Marvel takes him out as the team would all be stood close together. So Bizarro is running free and Flash is out. Because there is no back up strat to deal with Flash being knocked out, I'm going with Jared. It's a moot vote because Stars and K'Nort already have a landslide. I had to think about this one a lot. Stras and K'Nort. You have a great Strat and it's beautifully detailed and enjoyable to read but sending Flash in to try and talk Bizarro into a race, funny and imaginitive though it is, is where I made my decision.

[Slumber Hulk]

I gave it to Jared due to his Turtle man, Cold blasts and Mass effects. I think he clearly has the better strategy, I'm surprised by the voting not reflecting my opinion but I guess thats the fun.

Also, if Jared comes out with the win you can bet other teams will be going after Turtle Man hard and fast from this point on.

[Jessica Drew]

All accolades to StarsAndGarters & K'Nort for their defeat of Jared and his Merry Band of Turtle Men.