Avengers League 09/25/2007 AM Game 3: Cthulhudrew vs. Bob-el

[mattbib]

Greetings, fight fans! Welcome to the first fight of the day!

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And now on to our fight...

In the first corner we have Cthulhudrew's The Fix Is In (Starfox 15, Jack of Hearts 20, Starhawk 20, Atlas 20, Fixer 10, Slapstick 10)

vs

In the other corner is Bob-el's Merry Marvel Mayhem Society (Thor 40, Spider-Man 15, Mister Fantastic 12, Captain Marvel 20, Swordsman I 7)

Both participants have submitted strategies:

Please do not post or vote until both strategies have been posted and read.

[mattbib]

The battle opens, and team The Fix Is In springs immediately into action. Atlas grows to 60 feet tall, giving him both a great vantage point on the other team 100 meters away and the ability to cover that distance quickly. He scoops up Slapstick and proceeds on an intercept course towards Thor.

Meanwhile, Starfox, Jack of Hearts, Starhawk, and the Fixer (tech-pack configured as a flying platform) all take to the skies in different directions, which should keep any area of effect attacks from targeting the whole team.

Starfox, the quickest flyer, zooms towards Spider-Man. Fast as he is, he can’t quite compete with Peter’s reflexes, so he will just buzz him and keep him busy. Without any large objects to grab onto (except perhaps Atlas, but see below), Spider-Man is pretty limited in what he can do to catch Starfox. Starfox will play cat and mouse with Pete, hoping to keep him occupied (and relying in his Eternal strength and durability to keep him safe if Spider-Man closes quarters).

Starhawk will fly off towards Captain Marvel, to keep the good captain busy. Starhawk will try to trap Mar-Vell inside a shadow construct (this is the most recent version of Stakar, with the shadow powers; Aleta is still separate from him and has the solid light/Quasarish powers). If Mar-Vell manages to avoid or escape the solid shadow bubble, Starhawk will fly around and blast at him with his shadow blasts. He will attempt to avoid hand to hand combat all together, but if Mar-Vell manages to close, his strength is comparable to CM’s, and though the Captain’s combat skill is definitely greater, he should be able to last at least a little while- hopefully until one of the others can aid him.

Jack of Hearts rockets towards Mr. Fantastic, and will circle him from a distance, avoiding Reed’s reach as much as possible, while blasting at him with his Zero Energy blasts. Even Reed’s durability shouldn’t be able to hold out long against pure energy, and Jack should be able to take him out rather quickly, barring any unforeseen circumstances (ie, Reed pulling something out of his hat that I can’t see coming. J)

The Fixer will, meanwhile, fly out of the Swordsman’s reach, forming a couple of blasters with his tech-pack that he will fire at the landborne Swordy. As his blasters target Swordsman- either keeping him busy deflecting their shots or zapping him directly- Fixer will attempt to remote access Swordsman’s blade, and work through the Makluan technology to take control of it. Failing that, and if he is unable to connect with the Swordsman with his blasts, he’ll just fire an electrical bolt directly at the sword, effectively tasering the Swordsman and taking him out of the game.

Meanwhile, Atlas and Slapstick confront Thor. Atlas will attempt to stomp Thor into the ground, while dropping Slappy to the ground beside them. Slapstick’s invulnerability should be able to withstand any blows from Thor, and Atlas has proven capable of taking several direct hits from Thor in the past. Their main goal is to occupy Thor, even if not take him out directly. If Thor attempts to blast them with electricity, Slapstick will make every effort to get in the way, supercharging him and making him that much more dangerous to Thor.

With Mr. Fantastic and the Swordsman hopefully down for the count, the Fixer will synch his tech-pack up with Jack’s Scanalyzer brain and the pair of them will coordinate their blasting power against Spider-Man. With the two of them in computer-like synchronization, flying around, even Spider-Man’s reflexes shouldn’t be able to withstand them indefinitely.

Starfox, freed up, will go to help Starhawk with Captain Mar-Vell, bringing a hand-to-hand assist to Stakar’s energy powers. Together, they should be able to take out Mar-Vell.

Now, with my entire team freed up, they will all dogpile on Thor, again, making use of their mobility to keep him from being able to target the whole group and making sure if he singles any individual out, the rest have a free shot at him. Together, they should be able to take down even the god of Thunder.

[mattbib]

Immediately Thor uses his hammer to form a mystic vortex around his team shielding them from all initial attacks. Then he teleports them behind his opponents to generate an element of surprise.

As soon as the vortex drops, Thor lets loose with a full power mystic lightning bolt at Starfox knocking him completely unconscious or at the very least stunning him so he can't use his pleasure power. If the initial strike is insufficient - which is almost unimaginable given Thor's current power level - he continues to blast Starfox until he is down.

At the same moment, Mr. Fantastic does two things. He fires his FF emergency flare directly at Atlas to temporarily blind him. He uses his free arm to zip it around the Fixer and then snap it back spinning him like a top and completely disorienting him.

As Reed is firing his flare Spider-Man completely encases Slapstick in a web cocoon immobilizing him and thus taking him out of the fight. Spidey then takes off to attack Atlas using his webbing to continue to obscure his vision and his agility to avoid anything Atlas tries to do.

The Swordsman fires a series of electric blasts at Jack of Hearts. These are mainly to draw his attention and keep him from engaging anyone else. Like Spidey, Swordsman uses his agility and armor to avoid taking the full brunt of any counter attack from Jack.

Captain Marvel flies full speed at Starhawk using his maneuverability to avoid any blasts Starhawk fires. He engages him at close quarters counting on his strength and superior fighting skills to overwhelm Starhawk.

Thor follows up Mr. Fantastic's strike with a super powerful electric bolt at Fixer to knock out Fixer's techno vest. Before it can recover from the disruption, Reed finishes Fixer off with a series of stretched fist blows.

Mr. Fantastic then goes to aid Captain Marvel if he hasn't already succesfully knocked out Starhawk. Reed stretches himself around Starhawk pinning his wings and arms so that, unable to defend himself, Cap M can finish him off.

Thor comes in to do relief duty for Swordsman spinning his hammer to block any blasts that Jack fires. As soon as Cap M is done with Starhawk, Thor and he box Jack in and overwhelm him with their superior strength.

Swordsman rushes over to where Spider-Man continues to engage Atlas. Swordsman slashes into Atlas causing Atlas to explode into disembodied ionic energy - a strategy previously successfully used by a later Swordsman against the same enemy.

This should account for everyone but if someone of the opposing team is still up Reed will jack his uniform computer into Fixer's techno jacket, reboot it and reprogram it to allow him access to its weapon system and unleash a barrage of neural scramblers and knock out gas capsules at anybody on the other team rendering them unconscious.

Flush with victory, the five in triumph burst into a rousing chorus of "WE BELONG, WE BELONG, WE BELONG TO THE MERRY MARVEL MAYHEM SOCIETY!"

[unkiedev]

tough fight....

Bob-el's plan to teleport the entire team behind Cthulhudrew's team won't really buy them that much time, IMHO. Besideds, if Thor's plan is to take out Starfox (The fastest flyer on Bob-el's team) with a lightning bolt and Bob-el's plan was to have Starfox fly to the other side of the field to fight Spidey, Thor EITHER has to hit him with the lightning bolt 100 meters away, OR if Starfox realizes the teleport happened and does engage Spidey Thor might not fire in case he hit his team mate.

...that's just my first thought. Need more time to think. Good Strats, guys!

UPDATE: I also think Cthulhudrew's strategy for taking out Captain Marvel will be successful...The real problem is Cthulhudrew has no working strategy for taking down Thor other than "If all my guys make it ok then they'll gang up on him."

[Cthulhudrew]

One thing I should note, I actually was wrong about Starfox being the fastest flyer on my team- it should be Starhawk. I don't know Stakar's current level of speed, but when he had his light-based powers, he could fly at the speed of light (potentially). Even if that top speed has changed, he should still be pretty much the fastest thing on the field in flight (he's still capable of interstellar speeds- although he wouldn't reach near those levels in an atmosphere).

[EDIT- On Atlas/Swordsman. I'll have to double check, but I don't recall the exact circumstances behind Strucker's disruption of Atlas. He definitely was using a different sword than Duquesne- Strucker has his own powers, which he transmits through his blade, while Duquesne uses alien tech in the sword. Strucker was also working under the sort of direction of Zemo, who is very familiar with ionic energy, so I'm not sure just slicing Atlas with Swordy I's blade would have the same effect.]

[Tater]

Both teams had excellent stragegy. I think Cthul made a mistake by planning to be too careful. Bobs i saw as more of a lets powerhouse and win this. While Cthul's team would be an annoyance, I think Bob's team would get the win here. So I voted for Bob.

[Shyft]

I think Cthulhudrew better delegates tasks to each of his combatants, and takes into account his opponents strengths. Bob-el seems to make on allowances for Cthuldrew's team's ability to fight, and i see that as underestimating them. The use of Slapstick as a staller is excellent. Cthulhudrew wins it for me.

[Fatguy]

I also think Cthulhudrew's strategy for taking out Captain Marvel will be successful...The real problem is Cthulhudrew has no working strategy for taking down Thor other than "If all my guys make it ok then they'll gang up on him."

I agree, not the biggest fan of the Thor strat, but other than that I give it Cthuludrew. I like his plan, to use his teams evasion to the most, and I think Bob-el overestimates Thor's ability to be everywhere and take out everybody.

[Brian M.]

I only know who a handful of these characters are so when I get done w/ work and school I'll do some research and then vote...unless Flight knows who the hell they are and then he can vote for us.

[unkiedev]

I gave it to Cthulhudrew. He has good working plans for taking out the key players on Bob-el's team. Though he doesn't have the best plan for taking out Thor I think Starfox and Starhawk and Jack of Hears are up to the task.

[Mike Smash!]

I was a little saddened to see Starfox not use his famous persuasion powers, even though Bob-el anticipated them.

[Dagger]

Boy, was this a tough call! It took me a while before I was finally able to come up with my decision, but I had to give it to Cthuludrew.

I was a little saddened to see Starfox not use his famous persuasion powers, even though Bob-el anticipated them.
Indeed. That was one of the things I was most looking forward to in this fight. Pity:(

[Bob-el]

I agree, not the biggest fan of the Thor strat, but other than that I give it Cthuludrew. I like his plan, to use his teams evasion to the most, and I think Bob-el overestimates Thor's ability to be everywhere and take out everybody.

I only relied on Thor to take Starfox by himself. All his other activities are in cooperation with his teammates and all are timed out with others doing holding actions till he is ready to execute his part.

[Bob-el]

tough fight....

Bob-el's plan to teleport the entire team behind Cthulhudrew's team won't really buy them that much time, IMHO. Besideds, if Thor's plan is to take out Starfox (The fastest flyer on Bob-el's team) with a lightning bolt and Bob-el's plan was to have Starfox fly to the other side of the field to fight Spidey, Thor EITHER has to hit him with the lightning bolt 100 meters away, OR if Starfox realizes the teleport happened and does engage Spidey Thor might not fire in case he hit his team mate.

...that's just my first thought. Need more time to think. Good Strats, guys!

UPDATE: I also think Cthulhudrew's strategy for taking out Captain Marvel will be successful...The real problem is Cthulhudrew has no working strategy for taking down Thor other than "If all my guys make it ok then they'll gang up on him."

Actually since my team moves together initially if Starfox heads for Spider-Man he is effectively also moving toward Thor and will fly right into the blast. There should be no reason for collateral damage to Spidey.

I've got to agree with your assessment of his strategy on Thor. With an FF flare in his face, Atlas shouldn't get in his stomp on Thor which means either Spidey executes my strategy as planned or it could be hammer time on Atlas. At his current level, Atlas shouldn't be able to last very long at all. It effectively took Thor one shot to take down Iron Man. If he can't tie up Thor until everyone else is down, Thor can provide the assists I described and the Fixer and Jack fights should go to me.

[Bob-el]

Drew,

No Slapstick giant mallet? I'm disappointed. I really don't see where you've made any use of him at all except as backup to Atlas.

[Cthulhudrew]

I was a little saddened to see Starfox not use his famous persuasion powers, even though Bob-el anticipated them.

Unfortunately, I remembered after buying Eros that he no longer has those powers (although I still think he's a solid player, don't get me wrong).

[Bob-el]

One thing I should note, I actually was wrong about Starfox being the fastest flyer on my team- it should be Starhawk. I don't know Stakar's current level of speed, but when he had his light-based powers, he could fly at the speed of light (potentially). Even if that top speed has changed, he should still be pretty much the fastest thing on the field in flight (he's still capable of interstellar speeds- although he wouldn't reach near those levels in an atmosphere).

[EDIT- On Atlas/Swordsman. I'll have to double check, but I don't recall the exact circumstances behind Strucker's disruption of Atlas. He definitely was using a different sword than Duquesne- Strucker has his own powers, which he transmits through his blade, while Duquesne uses alien tech in the sword. Strucker was also working under the sort of direction of Zemo, who is very familiar with ionic energy, so I'm not sure just slicing Atlas with Swordy I's blade would have the same effect.]

I don't have the actual scene between Atlas and Strucker but the Marvel Handbook doesn't make any reference to the slicing of Atlas requiring a special sword and even if it did require one Swordsman is carrying a sword with special energy powers.

[Cthulhudrew]

No Slapstick giant mallet? I'm disappointed. I really don't see where you've made any use of him at all except as backup to Atlas.

Well, I assume he's going "hammer time" on Thor even as Atlas swats at the thunder god, but yeah, I forgot to spell it out.

There were a couple of other things I was thinking of having him do, but I figured he would be best used as an assist against your heavy hitter, since he's almost indestructible himself. :)

[Bob-el]

Unfortunately, I remembered after buying Eros that he no longer has those powers (although I still think he's a solid player, don't get me wrong).

Did he lose them in the She-Hulk storyline? I wish I'd known that because I was figuring I had to handle him first because of it.

[Cthulhudrew]

Did he lose them in the She-Hulk storyline? I wish I'd known that because I was figuring I had to handle him first because of it.

Yeah, that storyline ended with him giving them up (which was a pretty crappy end to the story, IMO- "creepiness" aside, I think his powers were one of the major parts that made him interesting, and good stories could be told from them, but apparently others don't feel that way).

I had been planning on using them- and picked up Eros for that reason among others- and then had to readjust my plans for him, too. :(

[Bob-el]

Hey! Do I score any points for coming up with four (yes, four) different things for the leader of Fantastic Four to do during the fight.

By the way, that end strategy is really vague. Everybody gangs up on Thor? Do you have any idea how many times entire armies of trolls, lava men and I don't know how many others have tried to beat him by ganging up on him and that was before he became Lord of Asgard. Couldn't we have had a little more detail on exactly how that attack was going to go down so that everybody doesn't go down from a shot to the head from Mjolnir or a few well placed lightning bolts?

[Jessica Drew]

After reading through the strategy a second time, I'm going to go with Bob-el because I think Cthulhudrew (though I do like his screen name!) spends too much of his initial tactics keeping the opponents busy rather than attacking, and I think those delays give Bob-el's team the opening he needs for his tactics to work.

[mattbib]

Congratulations, Cthulhudrew . You move on in the upper bracket, facing the winner of Game 4 next Tuesday morning, October 2, in Game 10.

Bob-el, good job. You continue in the lower bracket, facing the loser of Game 4 next Tuesday afternoon in Game L3/L4.

[Bob-el]

Congratulations, Cthuludrew.

I'm not quite sure what the key point(s) was that gave you the victory but congratulations anyway.

[mattbib]

Congratulations, Cthuludrew.

I'm not quite sure what the key point(s) was that gave you the victory but congratulations anyway.
Unfortunately it was so close, I doubt there WAS a key point. Probably just feasibility and the such.

[Cthulhudrew]

Wow- that was close. I thought we were going to have a tie, there. Are there any allowances for a tie?

Thanks, Bob-El. I really liked your strategy too- you definitely came up with some things I hadn't considered, and surprised me in a way. I think the differences in our strategies is what made things tough. Yours was more aggressive, while mine was making the most of my characters mobility and using that to provide time to get teamwork in action.

Some of the criticism about not being aggressive enough is definitely spot on, though, and I'll have to take that into account later.

[Pwood]

Great match. Amazing strats by both of you...

Cheers to Cthulhudrew...good luck to Bob-el in upcoming rounds...