DC League: Doug Strange vs. Joe Acro & Superheroic

[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 first match: Doug Strange vs. Joe Acro & Superheroic

Doug Strange: Orion, Hector Hammond, Killer Frost, Wonder Girl, Cosmic Boy, Metamorpho, Star Boy, Nemesis, Riddler

Joe Acro & Superheroic: Sinestro, Black Canary, Felix Faust, The Key, Geo-Force, Bane, Offspring, Ultra Boy

[Jessica Drew]

Doug Strange's strategy:

Strange Bedfellows

Round 1

All aboard! Metamorpho will immediately envelop the team in an inertron sphere, seating them in comfortably snug roller coaster style harnesses for the very bumpy ride ahead.

Meanwhile, Hammond will use his vast psychic powers wrest control of the Motherbox from Orion (because the New God probably wouldn’t give it up willingly!). A quick telekinetic shove into a Boom Tube and the team is on its way in seconds.

The other end of the tube opens just a few feet directly above Felix Faust, and what we have is essentially a gravity-powered cannon with Inertron Rex as the ammunition. Faust should be pulped right off the bat, if he isn’t shielded by himself or Sinestro, or if the ball isn’t somehow deflected (by Sinestro, Geo-Force, or Ultra Boy). I don’t think the other team’s reaction times would be that fast, but if so, we’ll deal with it.

If the Rex-projectile is deflected, the plan is essentially the same, but Metamorpho will ensnare Faust with tentacles and bring him inside the sphere with the others, who will be getting their bearings at this point and proceeding to punch and kick the bejeezus out of him while Hammond clouds his mind to prevent him from casting spells. I fully expect the rest of the enemy team to be wailing on Rex while this is going on, but they’ll soon find him surrounded by an impenetrable Astro-Force field. He will then resume human form, allowing my team to see their individual targets through the force field.

Cosmic Boy will locate the Key and magnetically crush his neural implant and any metallic weaponry he may have.

Star Boy, while staying within the force field, will focus his powers on Sinestro’s ring. He’ll go for overkill, making the ring as heavy as a small moon. Sinestro should be unprepared for this attack, since he should be busy blasting the field or otherwise trying to open it. If the insane amount of extra weight doesn’t snap his finger off (and I don’t think this goes against Star Boy’s character, necessarily…what’s one finger on one of history’s worst mass murderers?), it will certainly throw Sinestro off his game enough to where Star Boy can release the extra weight and then add it again instantaneously, over and over again…until just before the villain can get his bearings again…at which point, Star Boy will use his powers on the renegade Green Lantern’s belt and other random pieces of clothing, continuing to ‘jostle’ him in this way so he’ll be unable to concentrate, at which point Orion will drop the field and proceed to knock the crap out of him until he’s unconscious or worse.

Plan B - If Sinestro shielded Faust or his whole team as their opening move, Orion, instead of shielding his own team, will emerge from the Rex cocoon (while the others stay inside) and focus the power of his Astro-Harness on absorbing all the energy from Sinestro’s ring, dissolving the shield.

After Sinestro’s shield is down, Rex will de-solidify and move to find Offspring, as below. Cosmic Boy will locate the Key and do the above while Hammond baffles Faust and the Riddler fills him full of lead (using Nemesis’ gun, if necessary…haven’t gotten an answer on whether Riddler is armed). Wonder Girl and the Legion boys will of course be horrified by this (and the earlier smoosh attempt at Faust by Hammond), but they will realize the life-or-death stakes and fight on, perhaps with some admonishment falling on deaf villainous ears.

If Ultra Boy attempts to speed blitz, Hammond will sense his mind drawing nearer and, at the speed of thought, open a boom tube in his path, diverting him away for the time being. If he doesn’t get boomed away, Wonder Girl will try to lasso him. If he speeds out of the way, WG will speed over herself and clock him one. She’ll have the speed plus strength, but he’ll only have the speed. If he allows himself to be lassoed, he’s basically immobilized, as he’ll have to keep using his invulnerability to keep from getting zapped by the lightning. She will speed over and hog-tie him if this is the case.

[Jessica Drew]

Joe Acro & Superheroic's strategy:

Phase One:
As the match begins, the team moves so that Felix Faust cannot be seen. Faust then casts an illusion over his teammates, duplicating everyone in the hopes of confusing the enemy.
At the same time Faust is casting his spell, The Key mentally attacks Orion. He makes the New God think he is now on Apokalips and thinks his own teammates Hector Hammond is Darkseid! This effectively means that Orion will start to attack Hammond, distracting both for a short time and possibly leading to taking Hammond out of the fight.
Various team members and their duplicates begin to spread themselves out, as controlled by Faust. The real Offspring attaches himself to the back of Faust's left leg. Bane remains behind to guard Faust and Key. A few of those four's duplicates remain, whereas others travel outward.
Geo-Force takes to the air to shadow Star Boy, countering any gravity changes Star Boy may make, then blasts Star Boy when the opportunity presents itself.
Ultra-Boy's job is to take out Wonder Girl. He should be at least as strong, if not stronger. He charges at her using his super-speed, as do his duplicates. As soon as he nears her, he slows and switches to strength in order to injure her. He then flies away while blasting her with his flash vision. The duplicates of him have no doubt been exposed. So, the battle progresses with Wonder Girl now slightly weaker than Ultra Boy.
Sinestro runs interference for his team using forcefields to protect them or grabbing things that might be aimed at them (such as Wonder Girl's lasso, ice shards, stuff Cosmic boy throws, et cetera).

Phase Two:
When she gets close enough to have an effect, Black Canary lets out a Canary Cry, specifically targeting Cosmic Boy and anyone who happens to be nearby. She slowly walks toward him as she screams.
With Cosmic Boy briefly incapacitated, this gives Sinestro the time to deal with Metamorpho, who he wraps in a bubble and slowly closes it in on him.
By this time, Geo-Force should have been able to take out Star Boy (either via lava bursts or his superior strength). So, he goes to fight Killer Frost--fire vs. ice.
As Geo-Force changes opponents, Offspring gets into Bane's hand and forms himself in a ball. Bane throws him in a "Fastball Special" towards Hector Hammond. Reaching his target, Offspring covers Hammond's face and begins to suffocate him. Faust makes sure a few duplicates follow this action, up until contact.
Key drops the illusion on Orion as Faust drops his first spell (the duplicates disappear) and teleports Bane to Orion's location. With the help of Offspring and Faust, Bane fights Orion.
Key turns his sights on Cosmic Boy, giving him the illusion that he's too high up to affect the battle in order to force him to unwittingly ground himself so that Black Canary can fight him. If Cosmic Boy wasn't flying, the Key will merely use the illusions to distract his target, giving Canary a higher probability at success.

Phase Three:
At this point, only Riddler and Nemesis have yet to be taken into account. As the other fights wrap up, Sinestro forms a giant nail and stabs Riddler in the chest with it.
Once all other threats are neutralized, Nemesis loses by default

[Lex]

Wow. Both opening movies are smart and creative (and Doug's is a really neat idea).

I'll have to think about this for a bit.

[Doug Strange]

Did you not receive the second part of my strategy, Jess? That's only part 1.

[Doug Strange]

Crap, it's not in my sent box. CBR was acting funky when I sent it, but I thought it went out. Oh, well. Too late to try sending it again?

[Doug Strange]

Damn, that's really annoying. Oh, well.

First, let me say that the team isn't locating Faust visually, they're doing so telepathically. Hammond is in control of the boom tube, so he'll be able to port them right overhead, no matter what illusion spell he casts.

[Lex]

Ah. I thought your strategy was a bit short.

[Doug Strange]

I won't post the 2nd part of my strategy until Jess says it's ok (if he does...I recognize that that may not be seen as fair), but just because I'm an anal retentive, here's proof that the above was only the first part...

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b162/teelfamily2003/sentitems.jpg

Edit: And, just to clarify, it wasn't written in two parts...just private messaged that way because it wouldn't fit into one PM.

[Aztec Ace]

Poor Orion. Mentally attacked by both sides.

[Doug Strange]

Poor Orion. Mentally attacked by both sides.Maybe momentarily, but remember, my team is being held in an inertron harness...if Orion wants to attack somebody, he's going to need to break through that first. Rex will withdraw so that Star Boy and Cosmic Boy can get to work on Sinestro and the Key, but if Orion is swinging at a teammate, Metamorpho's going to hold on to him. Then the Key is taken out and Orion reverts to normal.

[Atom_basher]

ok, the fight starts off 100 yards away, and motherboxes are the sizes of pdas, and this is the night time, i don't think orion's motherbox would be easily stolen seeing as it would be REALLY hard to see and effectivly steal, and for some reason i don't think the motherbox would allow itself to be used by anyone but orion

[Doug Strange]

Hammond is psychically forcing Orion to give it to him, remember. And motherboxes have minds of their own. She would quickly see it was in her best interests to work together with Hammond instead of fighting it.

[Atom_basher]

Hammond is psychically forcing Orion to give it to him, remember. And motherboxes have minds of their own. She would quickly see it was in her best interests to work together with Hammond instead of fighting it.

ah, for some reason i thought he telekinetically snatched it, sorry, that makes this choice harder

[Jessica Drew]

Batfantim's vote does not count. He has zero posts.

Doug: I realized your PM said "Part 1," and I kept waiting for Part 2, but....

I don't think it would be fair to post it now, considering how several people have already voted, and others who've not posted yet might think the second part of your strategy was changed after you read opponents' strategy.

Well...on second hand...you can post it, but you'd have to post it as was, and I'd have....

Wait--better yet; PM Joe and if he says it's okay, then it's okay by me, because--as you noted--the strategy I got from you DID say "Part 1," and CBR was very hard to log onto yesterday.

[Doug Strange]

Good thinking, leaving it up to Joe. That's the fairest thing. I'll PM him.

[Doug Strange]

double post - (what is UP with CBR lately?)

[Joe Acro]

Ah, the bullet points went away, making the strategy look messy.:(

People still seem to like it, though.:)


Just on first-read through (I might do another one later):
Would the Key's illusion overpower Hammond's suggestion or would the two mental manipulations interfere and just drive Orion crazy?

Sinestro is running interference, so he should be able to do as you suggest and protect Faust during that opening maneuver.

Thus, the defaulting to the second attack may save Faust as well, since the duplicates might confuse Metamorpho.

--
This thread is part of the DC League.

[Kara Zor El]

Hey Joe, are you letting Doug post his part two? I'm saving my vote till then.

[Doug Strange]

Joe and JD are cool, so here it is...unchanged from how I wrote it two days ago.

This is still Round 1, mind...

The rest of the team will defend from attacks while the major threats are dealt with:

• Star Boy will get the jump on Geo-Force’s blasting by changing the weights of his wrist gauntlets and fouling his aim.
• Killer Frost will hurl icicles at Black Canary, keeping her off her toes long enough to keep her from using her canary cry with any accuracy.
• Metamorpho will match Offspring shapechange for shapechange, except Rex can control his own density (ie, turn to liquid or gas) which should help him evade blows and eventually clobber the kid pretty good. He could also gas him, I believe.
• Nemesis will occupy Bane by impersonating his father, taunting him, and shooting at him, if he’s got his gun. If not, he’ll simply do his best to use his spy training to evade. Nemesis is probably going to get the over-the-knee treatment, but at least Bane will be occupied.

Once the primaries are eliminated, the team will form back up and boom tube out inside Metamorpho’s inertron sphere. At this point, Sinestro is either beat to a pulp and unconscious (or dead) or awake but powerless. Faust has been flattened, beaten into unconsciousness, or shot to death. The Key is without his telepathic powers and weaponless. Ultra Boy, best case scenario, is either speeding back to the melee or he is unconscious or hogtied. If he is hogtied, Wonder Girl will bring him back with the group. And, uh, they probably lost Nemesis…but so what?

Round 2

The group will make a stop upside-down mid-air to shake off any tagalongs in the tube. Geo-Force, who needs to be oriented to the ground or other stable objects in order to fly, will be shook, and the rest are non-fliers. Except for Offspring, who might be able to hang around, but he can’t crack Rex’s shell, so Offspring will be ignored until they reach their next destination…

…Ultra Boy, if he isn’t already out. Hammond will reach out with his mind and boom the team to the Legionnaire’s location. He may have sped back to rejoin his teammates at this point, or he may be moving more slowly. What matters is they come out right on top of him, midair, trying to catch him unaware. Hammond, if possible, will try to lock him out of using his invulnerability power while Wonder Girl and Orion double-team him. If Hammond can’t do that, WG will do the lasso trick from above to immobilize him or otherwise defeat him.

Metamorpho will transmute into a guided missile and head straight for his old pal Geo-Force, evading blasts as he comes by flying in an erratic, unpredictable pattern. When he reaches the target, he’ll deliver the payload: invisible knockout gas.

Star Boy will nullify Offspring by keeping him on the ground, immobilized under his own weight. If Star Boy isn’t able to effect living creatures with his powers, only objects, I posit that Offspring doesn’t actually qualify, under the same principle that says he’s immune to mind control. He’s made of synthetic material. If that doesn’t work, Cosmic Boy will find a nearby dumpster, reshape it to contain Offspring (no leaks), and hurl it away from the fight until the group is ready to deal with him.

Riddler will keep Bane busy with gunfire and Killer Frost will keep the icicles coming towards Black Canary…she’ll have to do some precision screaming to shatter them, and it will at least keep her occupied.

At the end of Round 2, Ultra Boy is down, Geo-Force is down, and Offspring is either being crushed or has been hurled away from the fight. Bane is possibly shot. Star Boy is possibly occupied holding Offspring down, and Nemesis is wondering where he has to go to get a handicapped parking tag for his car.

Round 3

Bane and Black Canary should be all that’s left of the other team, but Offspring is possibly making his way back to the battle.

Cosmic Boy will remove Bane’s Venom feeder, crumple it, and cram it down his obnoxious throat while Orion blasts/punches/snarls.

Metamorpho will run over and clamp himself tightly around Canary’s mouth using a sound-impervious element, then moving to form total restraints, gently feeding her more knockout gas in case he’s needed to deal with Offspring.

If Offspring returns, Hammond should be able to contain him with his telekinesis. If not, he will trap him in a recursive boom tube loop.

And then it's naked party freak time.

[Lex]

I really like how you use Metamorpho, Doug. Very effective and creative.

But it's also worrying me about out upcoming battle.

[Doug Strange]

Thanks! Metamorpho is an old favorite of mine.

I find it really funny how both Joe and I sicced Wonder Girl and Ultra Boy on the other, each thinking our character would come out on top.

Basically, my rationale for WG vs. UB is that, yeah, he's got heat vision, but she's got an electrified lasso AND she gets to use her powers all at once. So, while he's trying to zap her, she's using her speed to evade and run over and beat him up, which he'll be vulnerable to because he's zapping.

[Joe Acro]

Thanks! Metamorpho is an old favorite of mine.

I find it really funny how both Joe and I sicced Wonder Girl and Ultra Boy on the other, each thinking our character would come out on top.

Basically, my rationale for WG vs. UB is that, yeah, he's got heat vision, but she's got an electrified lasso AND she gets to use her powers all at once. So, while he's trying to zap her, she's using her speed to evade and run over and beat him up, which he'll be vulnerable to because he's zapping.
And I think he wins because he's faster and less predictable.;)

--
That's a "wink" emoticon!

[Joe Acro]

Based on the fact that Inertron is a Legion metal and is, presumably, man-made, would Metamorpho know how/be able to replicate it?


--
Metamorpho is on Doug's team!

[BWilly]

I'm impressed by the creative use of Metamorpho as well, but I have one question for Doug: when Metamorpho turns into a guided missile, what is propelling him?

[Sean Whitmore]

I'm impressed by the creative use of Metamorpho as well, but I have one question for Doug: when Metamorpho turns into a guided missile, what is propelling him?

Chili dogs.


SEAN

[Sean Whitmore]

I think a straight-up brawl between Wonder Girl and Ultra Boy would be in Cass' favor. If for not other reason than that this version of Jo is very new at switching his powers around in mid-fight (having only been recently trained in such tactics by Karate Kid).


SEAN

[Sean Whitmore]

Okay, both very good strategies. Nothing obvious to call out, so this will have to come down to an apples-to-apples comparison. Few questions/statements:


Geo-Force should have been able to take out Star Boy (either via lava bursts or his superior strength).

I wouldn't count on this as a given. Star Boy can increase his strength through gravity just like Geo Force, and Geo's blasters (which he uses to fly) can be affected like Doug wrote.


Bane fights Orion.

He does what now? That's gotta be the most one-sided fight on record, venom or no venom.


Meanwhile, Hammond will use his vast psychic powers wrest control of the Motherbox from Orion (because the New God probably wouldn’t give it up willingly!). A quick telekinetic shove into a Boom Tube and the team is on its way in seconds.

I'm not sure of the purpose of this. Couldn't Orion just have opened the Boom Tube?


SEAN

[Doug Strange]

Based on the fact that Inertron is a Legion metal and is, presumably, man-made, would Metamorpho know how/be able to replicate it?I thought about explaining this, but my strategy was getting too long anyway. Hammond, surmising that the future might hold some kind of impenetrable element, could have found the chemical formula in Cosmic Boy's mind and transmitted it to Metamorpho.

Failing this, Metamorpho could just use Promethium or some other present-day, impossibly hard metal.
I'm impressed by the creative use of Metamorpho as well, but I have one question for Doug: when Metamorpho turns into a guided missile, what is propelling him?Rocket fuel! I'm pretty sure I've seen him do this one before, but I can't site my sources, sorry. It seems reasonable to me that, even if Rex doesn't know how to make rocket fuel, he's performed enough chemistry experiments in his life (since his transformation) that he would know certain things to combust in order to propel him.

I'm not sure of the purpose of this. Couldn't Orion just have opened the Boom Tube?Heh. Originally, I'd written a much more elaborate strategy, and that was actually a holdover from that.

He could have just opened the tube himself, but in this instance I'm glad he didn't, since he likely would have been fooled by Faust's illusion and come out at the wrong place.

The benefit to Hammond having the Boom Tube is that he can telepathically pinpoint both opponents and teammates and boom in exactly where he needs to be. He can also prevent the speed blitzes like I mentioned earlier. The nanosecond he senses a mind approaching, he opens a tube in between and Sinestro or Ultra Boy is on the other side of the battlefield before they know what the heck just happened.

[Joe Acro]

I wouldn't count on this as a given. Star Boy can increase his strength through gravity just like Geo Force, and Geo's blasters (which he uses to fly) can be affected like Doug wrote.Geo-Froce is countering any gravity moves Star Boy makes. That should stop that bracelet trick from working. As for a hand-to-hand brawl, I'd give it to Geo just due to experience, assuming the current Star Boy has demonstrated the ability to increase his strength through use of gravity powers.


He does what now? That's gotta be the most one-sided fight on record, venom or no venom.You missed the first part of that. He's helped by Faust and Offspring (at least within my strategy). The idea is that Bane helps fight him, not fighting him alone.


--
This was an afternoon match.

[Joe Acro]

There was a double post!

[Aaron King]

I thought Metamorpho could only change into elements that made up the human body.

[Lex]

I thought Metamorpho could only change into elements that made up the human body.
Over the years he's kind of gone beyond that. Doug's strategy has a lot of similarities to something Grant Morrison once had Metamorpho do in JLA. In that story, he was seen using elements that wouldn't normally be found in a human body.

And I think there was a period in the Justice League Europe days where he was able to absorb elements into his body. So he might have access to more than the 25 or so elements in a normal human body.

[Doug Strange]

Good match, Joe...Superheroic.Geo-Froce is countering any gravity moves Star Boy makes. That should stop that bracelet trick from working.The way I understand it, Geo-Force's powers are more like blasts, while Star Boy just focuses on objects and increases their weight. I may have that wrong, since I don't know anything about the new Legion, but I don't think Geo-Force could 'counter' what Star Boy was doing, unless he was blasting his own gauntlets, and that should at least occupy him, which is all I was going for in that round.

[Doug Strange]

I thought Metamorpho could only change into elements that made up the human body.Wow, good memory. I'd forgotten about that limitation. But Lex is right, I believe he's outgrown that.

But if not, let's just call it diamond (carbon) and forget about it! :)

[Jessica Drew]

Congrats on the win, Doug. Good show, Superheroic & Joe.

[Joe Acro]

Good match, Joe...Superheroic.
And a good match to you, too.

We'll use this information to better our next strategy.

[Karl O'Neill]

Just curious, is this a rumbles game?

[Kara Zor El]

No it's a strategy game.

Find oout how it started at this link - http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?t=167424 - You could join up for the next one.