Mutant League 01/13/09 PM Game 4: The Fury vs. AceOfSpades

[mattbib]

Greeting fight fans! Welcome to the second fight of the day!

As this is our second day, a few words on voting:

All voters should vote solely on a team's strategy. It is up to the participants to convince voters via their strategy that their team will win the match. While participants may agrue, the only subsequent information voters may take into consideration is proof that something in either strategy could/should not happen. Proof should be in the form of a reference, not an opinion, and may be provided by any League participant or voter. There is no need for participants to argue timelines, pick apart strategies or post pages of circular arguments. Again, you are voting on the strategies, not follow-up arguments. Voters should think for themselves based on the strategy and refuted facts.

Also, voting should not be based on any potential that characters possess or on any other moves that a voter might want to interject on their own. All voters should feel free to comment on why they've voted for a specific team.

NOTE: To prevent unfair ballot-stuffing, only votes from posters with 50 or more posts will be counted. Additionally, votes from posters with matching IP addresses will be disqualified. NO EXCEPTIONS. Teams with two or more participants will only be allowed one vote in any match. If more than one member of a team votes in a match, only the first vote from that team will be counted.

While encouraging friends or family to vote in the tournament is allowed, encouraging others to vote specifically for you is against the rules and is grounds for disqualification. Friends and family are expected to read both strategies and make a decision based on what is presented; not based on allegiance to a particular participant. All voting should be done without bias.
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And now on to our fight...

In the first corner we have The Fury's FIRST LIGHT AT THE BREAK OF DAWN AND THE LAST 2 HORSEMEN
Psylocke, Northstar, Apocalpyse (5)

vs

In the other corner is AceOfSpades' WORSHIPERS of the FLOATING BRAIN
Lady Mastermind, Polaris, No-Girl (2), Magma, Cloak, Sub-Mariner

Both participants have submitted strategies:

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

[mattbib]

Location Factors:
- The sub zero temperatures here will cause disruption for both the teams but many have resistances that are to be noted. On my team Apocalypse can survive in space and Northstar's body is designed to resist the chill of movement at high speeds. Psylocke on the other hand won't be as resistant but then my opponents have more character to feel the cold then I do.

Opening Moves:
- Unless otherwise stated my team stay in flight to avoid some of Magma's attacks.
- Apocalypse teleports with Psylocke to just behind Polaris on the other team. Both Psylocke and Apocalypse have great Psychic resistances so shouldn't be fooled by any illusion by Lady Mastermind.
-Once they arrive Psylocke will let out a small TK wave just to throw them off a little and head straight for Lady Mastermind. Although Psylocke is immune to Lady Mastermind's power due to her Psychic resistance and Apocalypse has strong Psychic defences (else I'm sure Cable could have ended their battle long ago), Northstar doesn't has defenses so any opening moves from him might prove useless with Lady Mastermind creating an illusion. With Psylocke having her TK shields raise around herself she will head for Lady Mastermind and with her Katana drawn, swipe it through her body. The Katana works much like the Psi-knife (the sum totality of her psychic abilities...and all that) even though it's a TK sword. It should render Lady Mastermind unconsious or at least disable her illusion if she has cast one. Psylocke will continue to fight her until she is down.
- Apocalypse on arrival grabs Polaris. Polaris during M-Day was one of the many mutants to lose her powers, in the Blood of Apocalypse story (and explained properly after), Apocalypse replicated Polaris' lost magnetic powers by infusing technology into her nervous system and mainly her spine. What Apocalypse giveth, he can taketh away. After teleporting close to Polaris, Apocalypse will use his fast shapeshifting abilities to capture and grab Polaris, during this he will not only break her spine with his strength but he has also been shown to have some mannor of techno-pathy over the tecnology at his disposal (Celestial stuff). He will use this power to screw the technology within Polaris taking her out of the match.
- While Psylocke and Apocalypse do this, Northstar, stays flying over the other side, this is just incase an illusion cast by Lady Mastermind or an attack by No-Girl is cast to put him off, he is waiting. But if any physical attack is thrown his way then he dodges using his speed.

Stage 2:
- By now, my opponents might be readying to attack Apocalypse or Psylocke. Hopefully Psylocke has taken out Lady Mastermind so Northstar can be used.
- Psylocke will head for No-Girl, again her powers being telepathic in nature, they are pretty much useless against her. Using her TK again to fly towards her opponent, using her TK to push anyone in the way out the way and protecting herself with it, Psylocke will use her Katana to give No-Girls mind disruption and take her out of the match.
- Northstar now speeds up to beyond 5 times the speed of sound, darting straight for Magma and Sub-Mariner. He does not intend to beat them but keeps moving and just hitting them as he passes. His speed and flight should be good enough to avoid any attacks, he can also react quicker than them. The heat of Magma might make her dangerous but being above ground away from her attacks and only hitting her for a split second will hopefully not harm him much. If No-Girl hasn't been taken out properly by Psylocke he will also make a pass by her smashing her jar.
- Apocalypse, increases the density of his body protecting him from physical harm from Namor or heat from Magma. Fires huge beams of energy at the remaining members of the other team. His energy blasts are strong enough to not only knock people down but at a push, disintergrate them. These are mainly aimed at Cloak. Although his intangible form is a problem, Apocalypse will stay away from Cloak to avoid being taken into the Dark Force dimension. If he is attacked by Magma, Apocalypse will get up right close to her, she is not know for her fantastic fighting skills and Apocalypse's immense strength can easily knock her out. Namor on the other hand is strong enough to put up a fight and a great fighter but it is sea water which makes him truely a threat. Apocalypse has fought him before but not much just a small tuffle before Apocalypse leaves letting someone else fight him, this small tuffle was fought just after Namor came out of a sea water tank so would have been very strong, Apocalypse was not harmed in the fight. Apocalypse will use the same technique he used on Ikaris once to defeat Namor.Here. After getting close to him and taking a hit (so he's close enough) he will grab Namor in his clutches (bear hug) and use his body to form a spike that stabs Namor. Ikaris is nigh on Invulnerble yet Apocalypse draws blood none the less. Ikaris is more powerful then Namor and while a stab through the chest of Ikaris isn't going to kill him anytime soon (immortal), this would kill Namor.

Stage 3:
- Psylocke turns to Cloak, using her flight she move to him but is careful not to get trapped into his cloak. Her aim is to use her Katana on him, being made of psychic energy it essentially not something that Cloak can phase through as it's not physical, his mind still exists after all.
- Northstar keeps his speed up and flies randomly placing hits on anyone he can and anyone still up. At the speeds he is going, a hit on a person with normal durability, it would probably break their bones, Northstar's body is designed that it is toughed against the movement of this speed.
- Apocalypse after finishing Namor fires energy beams at Magma. Her powers being mainly earth based restrict how she attacks airborn opponents. Apocalypse shall fire huge beams of energy to knock her out of the match. Northstar should be flying about hitting her to put her off so Apocalypse can take her out.

Final Stuff:
- Cloak's Dark Force dimension power means that if a member of my team is taken into it, they could slowly be attacked by an unknown energy that weakens them. Although it is said that this 'attack' on their very being is psychic in nature making Psylocke immune to it and Apocalypse having defences from it. Keeping these members in the dimension would be against the rules and not defeating me so Cloak would have to let them out at some point.

[mattbib]

Part One: Survival in the Wintery Depths
Cloak wraps the entire team up in his cloak and teleports behind the archways, an easy feat for him, as he has been shown to be able to teleport dozens of people at a time in the past (See Civil War Finale).

Lady Mastermind starts off by getting the character on the opposing team who is most likely to succumb to one of her illusions. She targets Northstar, making him believe he is drowning. He won’t be able to do anything, like concentrate to run or fly. As seen in Xtreme X-men #5-9 Lady Mastermind’s illusions are so powerful that people can actually die when experiencing them. Northstar will literally believe he is drowning, and will die. Speed of thought is faster than the speed of whatever Northstar is moving at. After Northstar is dead, Lady M turns her attention to Apocalypse, making an illusion that there are 10 different versions of our team around the field. (This may or may not work against ‘Poccy, but its worth a try)

Simultaneously Magma goes into her fire form, heating the air of the teammates around her, keeping them from freezing to death. She also makes columns of magma start erupting where Psylocke and Apocalypse are. Magma is not one who is opposed to using excessive force when needed (see Young X-men where she melts Dust’s sand form into glass). Betsy can make TK shields, but even a Betsy is going to have to focus much of her effort to not get buffeted by lava. Even if Psylocke disappears, Amara will keep harassing that area.

Polaris takes all the metal in the area that she can find and wraps Psylocke up in it, slowly crushing her. Lorna is not trying to kill Betsy, just restrict her air supply until she passes out. If Psylocke is for some reason invisible, Polaris will shift her vision to the electromagnetic spectrum to see Psylocke like that. Polaris then uses this Psylocke-ball as a battering ram of sorts to start bashing Apocalypse with. Apocalypse will, most likely squash the Psylocke ball, taking her out if the slow crushing has already not knocked her out.

Martha Johannson has spent this time defending against any telepathic intrusions by Apocalypse.

Namor has held back until now, guarding the group from any physical assault by Apocalypse. If Apocalypse shows up, Cloak will teleport everyone but Namor away to a safer location. Namor will then engage Apocalypse.

End of Part One: Northstar dead, Psylocke dead/squashed/unconscious. Apocalypse being

Part Two: How to survive and Apocalypse
At this point, the full assault against Apocalypse can begin. No one will hold back because, well, they all know how much of a threat he is.

Lady M continues her illusion casting of multiple teams, although now all the teams are attacking Apocalypse.

Namor flies over to start assaulting Apocalypse, with Magma’s lava having heated the surrounding area any freezing effect will be slowed down.

Magma stops her direct assault of Apocalypse and instead makes a giant ravine that goes far down into the earth. Polaris uses the metal from Psylocke to bash Apocalypse towards the ravine. Namor also battles Apocalypse.

Cloak then appears and wraps Apocalypse up and the two of the teleport deep into the ravine. At the same time Magma fills the ravine with lava/closes it up, as cloak teleports away. Apocalypse is now trapped miles below the surface, effectively disabling him for the remainder of the match.

As an afterparty, Lady M makes an illusion that everyone is in a giant dance club full of Namor’s wearing only tight speedos. There is joy to be had. Even No-girl gets some.

[Swashbuckler]

Initial thoughts? I love that The Fury's intial hit squad is just two members. This leaves Northstar, who is intially Lady M's victim, out of the way if in an illusion. He wouldn't die though, as Psylocke would get to Lady M. quickly and take her out. Apocalype is being guarded by Magma and Namor, but The Fury's offense shows how he handles those two easily and EXTRA bonus to using Polaris as his victim. I believe he would be able to take control of the implants he put in her, thus rendering her attack on Betsy moot. With Northstar free of Lady M's illusion he is free to attack No Girl's jar and Magma as planned. Cloak is the only member of AceofSpades team who seems unaffected by what The Fury does. I'll hold off for a minute, but I think The Fury has this easily in the bag.

[RoguishGurl]

Good strats from both teams!

Though in the past, psychic resistence hasn't stopped Lady Mastermind before. In X-men #200 Emma Frost was fooled by Lady M's illusion. And in X-Treme X-men 5-9, she fooled Sage, who is basically telepathy proof. And since that is true, Apocalypse and Psylocke could very likely be fooled by Lady Mastermind. And I don't think it would be that much of a stretch for Apocalypse to be fooled by multiple teams since Rogue was fooled by multiple forms of Vargas.

Though, i'm still not sure who we will vote for. I will talk to Pach! about it first.

[PhoenixBoyX]

Both teams, excellent jobs!

My understanding of Lady M is that her illusions are barely illusions at all - they can be full sensory projections that bewilder and beguile. They go so far beyond illusions, that like her father, they can fool even the strongest telepath.

I would like to say though, Fury, your Apocalypse trick with Polaris was great - inventive and totally in character for Apocalypse to do after all the games we've seen him play with Warren. While I do sit on the fence about the feesibility of AceofSpades' plan to take out Apoc, I am more inclined to lean towards that then the underestimation The Fury had for AOS's entire team. Both teams do a great job, but I am of the mind that AceofSpades did a better job realizing the threat of the other team completely.

I (and Steven) look forward to playing either/both teams in the future!
-Nicholas

[escapegoat]

Fury's first move with Apocalpyse and Psylocke are good. I think the threat level of No-Girl was not fully realized in either scenario and she should have been next on the take-out list for Apocalypse so that she could not take out Psylocke, while Psylocke takes out Cloak to prevent him from taking in anyone.

Ace's first move with Lady Mastermind woulda been rendered moot with Pyslocke taking her out before she could turn her attention away from Northstar. I don't think No-Girl woulda been effective as an offence/defence to Apocalypse in the first round, giving Apocalypse the first move in taking out Polaris.

Beyond that, I think the Fury's team would make short work against the remaining members of Aces.

[The Fury]

Though in the past, psychic resistence hasn't stopped Lady Mastermind before. In X-men #200 Emma Frost was fooled by Lady M's illusion. And in X-Treme X-men 5-9, she fooled Sage, who is basically telepathy proof. And since that is true, Apocalypse and Psylocke could very likely be fooled by Lady Mastermind. And I don't think it would be that much of a stretch for Apocalypse to be fooled by multiple teams since Rogue was fooled by multiple forms of Vargas.

While I agree Apocalypse might be a target for Lady Mastermind, she is hopefully taking out early but a completely psy-proof Psylocke. Lady Mastermind has absolutely no way to influence her at all.

[Swashbuckler]

While I agree Apocalypse might be a target for Lady Mastermind, she is hopefully taking out early but a completely psy-proof Psylocke. Lady Mastermind has absolutely no way to influence her at all.

I suppose if you're playing Psylocke the way Claremont writes her in New Exiles. I mean, she may as well be God. I still think she would overcome the illusion eventually if she attacked Psylocke first, but she didn't. She attacks Northstar.

[Prodigy55]

Great strategies from both teams, but I am going to have to think hard about this.

Is there actual proof that Psylocke is resistent to Lady M?

[Joe Acro]

I don't believe Apocalypse can teleport.

He once could, sure, but that's when he had Ship.

[Swashbuckler]

Great strategies from both teams, but I am going to have to think hard about this.

Is there actual proof that Psylocke is resistent to Lady M?

It really doesn't matter as the strats have her going aftr Northstar while Psylocke is taking her out.

[AceOfSpades]

I say that if Apocalypse or Psylocke appear to make any move to teleport Cloak will teleport my team away\, where neither Apocalypse nor Psylocke will know that they showed up. My starting teleportation move will already throw Apocalypse off from where my team is. Apocalypse must make a move to teleport, Cloak can see this and go teleport away as well. By that point Amara will know where they are and Polaris has already started her attack as well. My team was well aware of a teleport attempt and was ready to get the hell out of there.

I also state that Namor is there to engage Apocalypse should he show up at all.

As for the psychic resistance Lady M has shown to be capable of besting some very powerful psychics with her illusions:
Sage in Xtreme X-men 5-9
and
Emma in X-men 200
Emma is considered one of the top Psis in the world right now and Lady M even defeated Claremonts lovechild Deus Ex Machina Sage, I think this says something about the skill she has.

As for the whole "Amara can't touch anyone whose flying"-- lava has an eruptive force upwards, which can easily shoot hundreds of yards into the sky, even more if someone is actually willing that to happen.

[escapegoat]

I say that if Apocalypse or Psylocke appear to make any move to teleport Cloak will teleport my team away\, where neither Apocalypse nor Psylocke will know that they showed up. My starting teleportation move will already throw Apocalypse off from where my team is. Apocalypse must make a move to teleport, Cloak can see this and go teleport away as well.

The thing about Cloak's teleportation power is that it's not as instantanious. All of his team members would have to enter into him first to the darkforce dimension before he could teleport away. Apocalypse's teleportation would be a lot more instantanious, giving him the advantage of first strike in the teleportation department.

[AceOfSpades]

The thing about Cloak's teleportation power is that it's not as instantanious. All of his team members would have to enter into him first to the darkforce dimension before he could teleport away. Apocalypse's teleportation would be a lot more instantanious, giving him the advantage of first strike in the teleportation department.

Cloak's power may not be instantaneous, but its not snail slow either. My team is small and grouped close together. We've seen Cloak spread over dozens of fighters in seconds, the small group would be nearly instant

As for Apocalypse's teleportation-- when have we seen it used where it was not simply bringing him to or from a base of his? I don't actually know, but is it more of a base transport rather than a true teleportation power?