For months now I have been waiting to get my hands on the Marvel Evolution Set. I have had such an enthusiasm for this set mainly because of the legend support for Cyclops and the Marauders. T’Challa could confirm I never play villain teams, with the Darkseid Elite exception, but Marauders would have to be another exception after the preview season. I have never been a big fan of the X-Men, but Gambit has always been the greatest treat for me when reading their comic series. I am definitely not your pro TCG player, I much rather go to a tourney and play what I like and lose than play something someone else concocted. That was the case when I developed my decks that I wrote about in previous sets and the Shadowpact deck I piloted in a number of PCQ’s. Such is the case with my Marauders/X-Factor deck that revolves around the Cyclops/Sinister/Gambit relationship. The deck reveal will come tomorrow, but let me tell you about the Release Celebration I participated in at Groovy Gecko’s this past weekend.



This event was simply going to be one of those times where I was just playing for participation prize support because I have the worst luck to be truthful, which often means bad news for sealed play. That means opening up packs and getting no goodies, to drawing bad cards in decks I have had help with creating. I am very superstitious about these aspects of my TCG experience and T’Challa can confirm this as well.



So the day wasn’t looking to be off to a good start when I opened my packs and realized I had no combat pumps to play with what so ever, but then I became increasingly happy as I looked at all the team ups I pulled, 7 or 8 in 5 packs. So the best thing that happened was I pulled a bunch of Marauders and then some X-Factor, which made the picture brighter when I drew into The Falls Edge and my favorite 4 drop in the game, Cyclops, Man of Action. Well I started looking through my cards and noticed I had a Random, Alex in there and it so happened that I like the way the two looked together. I decided they would be my turn 4 and 5 play which panned out in two particular matchups really well. Other than that I ended up drawing into Albert and 6-cost Wolverine, along with a Murasame Blade which looked real good as a backup.



So the deck was something like this;

Iceman on turn 1, Malice, Tempo, or Unuscione on turn 3, Washout, Lady Mastermind or Albert on turn 3, Cyclops or Random on turn 4 and 5. Turn 5 had Joanna Cargill if I managed not to draw into Cyclops or Random. Sinister was there as a backup. Turn 6 had Wolverine and Malice. Turn 7 was Sinister, Kid Omega and Mystique, I drew no 8 drops.

I had some other filler characters in there that were X-Factor, Marauders or Weapon X, but these were the cards that really got me over the hump for the day. Plot twist was limited to Friendly Rivalry, 6 different Team-ups Sinister Disciples and Falls Edge. Friendly Rivalry went off in two of the 6 games I played.



I managed to go 5-1 with the deck. The one matchup I lost was to Brian and it was due largely in part to the fact that I got really screwed on the draw and managed not to get any of these character cards listed above as well as missing drops in general. I was playing filler both games like Valerie Cooper, Fantomex and one game I missed turn 1-3 without a significant drop while he was playing a shift deck that was put together rather well. It would have been a better matchup but it was what it was.



Not to demeanor any of my other opponents but the last matchup was against T’Challa and I absolutely wrecked his deck. It all started when he though he had the leg up playing Sabretooth. Neither of us really noticed it at first, but I had one of my key cards down that really won the matchup and that was Iceman who locked-down any energizing from ever happening. I was able to hit hard after that dropping in Cyclops without ever playing Random and then dropping Joanna Cargill who just got bigger and bigger. On turn 6 I handed the game over to T’Challa with my endurance at 40 and his at -3. The writing was clearly on the wall, but T’Challa went through his Machinations anyway.



I walked away with 7 copies of the Ten Rings, thanks to all the guys who didn’t want them, and some quick trades with Kelly that probably really not worth the trades for some commons that I will probably never use and 4 copies of the 6 drop Punisher from MEQ. It was a funny ending because T’Challa was talking a little smack to the guys and I smacked his butt down, in front of his son, Christian who was at his first versus tournament and for all intents and purposes would have won the tournament if he knew a lick about how to play the game in an average way. He is a beginner and pulled almost a complete Blink run out of 5 packs. The kid is lucky, he even won the random giveaway, I still have yet to win a random give away.

Thanks to the guys down at Gecko’s and I can’t wait to get back and play on the 30th for that box of MEV. I have purchased 6 boxes of MEV already and I will probably purchase 1 or 2 more. But I am pretty much happy I was able to trade for all the cards I needed to get my decks that I wanted to complete done and now I can get some great table top against T’Challa later and utterly destroy all hopes he has of beating me ever again…

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T'Challa and I travelled to Groovy Gecko's in Williamsburg, VA. NIce place great players, great store owner. This event was not packed with players, but we had fun either way, which is always the best part about playing Versus. The last time we went down there were probably 8-10 guys this time there was less, but we ran the MUN Sealed Event anyway, here is T'Challa's report for his day in which he took st place

Today was the Marvel Universe Sealed event in Williamsburg, Va.

Neil and I traveled about 45 minutes or so to attend the $20.00 entry fee event.

We had 7 players in total, I believe.

I didn't keep the cards sorted very well and only decided to do this report after getting home, so I don't even have my full deck list. But, I'll highlight the fun stuff:



5 packs of cards were opened:

Pack 1: Captain America secret avenger

Pack 2: Black Panther 5 and a captain America's Shield

Pack 3: Captain America Secret avenger, Baron Strucker, The Captain

Pack 4: Captain America 4 drop (his version escapes me at the moment Satan Claw

Pack 5: Baron Strucker, Switching Sides (I think these were the last pack's contents), Black Panther

I decided immediately that since I had no other 6 drops AT ALL I'd be playing both Struckers and his claw. I also new I'd be playing Cap and Panther.

My deck formed up looking something like this:

1s: 0
2s: Hawkeye, Captain America x2, Bullseye
3s: Falcon, Tigra x2
4s: The Captain, Captain America
5s: Green Goblin, Black Panther x2
6s: Baron Strucker x2
7s: Venom, Carol Danvers

Plot Twists:

Grudge Match
I Am Doom x2
Secret Avengers x2
Slobberknocker x2
Out For Justice
Hard to Kill
Switching Sides

Locations:

Asgard
Thunderbolts Mountain

Equipment:

Captain America's Shield
Satan Claw



I know there were more cards, because my deck was 33 cards at game time, but I don't recall the other cards at this moment.

It is announced that we will be playing 4 rounds at 2 out of 3.

Round 1, I get a bye. So I buy 2 Coming of Galactus sets, hoping for a 2 drop Spiderman and a 4 drop Nightcrawler. I am rewarded with those and a Strategic Thinking in the first box and a 7 drop Silver Surfer and another Strategic Thinking in the second. Nice.

Round 2 I play against a younger guy that apparently steam rolled his first opponent, a new player that jovially wished the worst luck on him after their game.

I don't recall all of the details, but it wasn't great for my opponent at all. Slobberknocker helped push through a little damage in the early turns since my attackers were constantly getting stunned back. I won from a mix of lucky top decks and strong power ups.



Round 3 I played against Brian, a VSrealms member that goes by the name of Trader(with some numbers attached, but I don't recall the numbers so this parenthesis is being used to hold my place until I look it up and edit it in). Brian had played Neil Round 1 and while I milled around I had watched only a few moments of their game. Brian is a super nice guy, and we don't have enough VS players like him out there! I don't recall all of the details, but I think game 1 I had a particularly good draw off the bat with a strong field and the Captain brickwalling an important attack (using I Am Doom to k.o. 3 lower drops and give him 4 counters. Yeah, neat). Game 2 I got off to a somewhat slower start I think but was able to pull off another tough spot play through luck again. Turn 4 I flipped T-bolt Mtn and Asgard in reponse to His Genis Vell. I managed to stun Vell and Switching sides him to my side. Brian had to under drop on 5 and played Vance Astrovik to replace my Asgard. So I responded by stacking a 2 drop Cap on top of my deck and allowed him to hit my row. This was an important moment for me, because I hadn't set my 5th resource yet, but wanted to play my Black Panther on 5 and only had a Grudge Match face down in row. This allowed me to have another Face down resource So I could set a character and boost Panther. I teased Brian that my next play couldn't have been done without him and proceeded to boost in my Panther, backing up my 4 drop Cap. This left my visible area to consist of a support row Genis Vell adjacent to a 4 drop Captain America who was protected by a Falcon or Tigra, I think. Brian team attacked "MY" Genis and after it became legal Cap bounced the attack to my hidden 2 drop Bullseye. Bri scooped from there.



Round 4 I played against a guy they called "Whitey". Our match was pretty fast. With a dice roll loss for me Whitey elects to go second. I whiff on one, while he hits an Iron Fist. I take 2. Turn 2 I think he hits a T-bolt 2 drop and I hit a Cap who successfully rallies a Falcon to my hand. Turn 3, I hit a Falcon and successfully rally for a Captain America 2 drop, blind! This makes Falcon a 6/7, so I control his board down to just two characters. Turn 4, Whitey drops a Sharon Carter, concealed while I can only under drop my other 2 drop Cap in to play or play a Tigra. I choose Cap, hit a 4 drop Cap and then equip the Shield. Whitey swings Sharon in to my 7/8 Falcon and passes, so I play a Hard to Kill, gaining +2 DEF and brick wall with the stunback. He team attacks with his 3 and 2 in to my 7/8, so I exhaust Falcon to switching sides to steal his Sharon. He scoops game one.

Game 2 Whitey chooses odds, but the game looks similar, except with Hawkeye missing his one drop and burying some plot twist, followed by Falcon doing more of the same. I do hit The Captain on 4 though and with 2 hidden 2 drops (Bullseye and Hawkeye). The Captain chooses "Captain America" and Whitey hammers at my Captain. We trade, and he jumps ahead in the END race. Turn 5 I hit Green Goblin and name Dr. Doom which triggers a response from Ken at the other end of the table "The Captain just named Dr. Doom? I smell BS" or something to that effect. Whitey swings at the Captain and I play an I am Doom, k.o.ing my 2 2 drops, and giving him 3 counters, and this brick walls an attack. As Whitey prepares to scoop again, he stops me and says "Wait" choosing to play it out instead, since he is up by more than 10 END at this point. Turn 6 I miss Baron AGAIN, boost a Black Panther, giving Captain Doom 2 more counters after Green goblin gave him one more, bringing his total up to 6. I give him Captain America's shield as well. Combat Phase, Captain Doom adds Baron Strucker's name to his list. I get to hammer away, but leave myself little to do with Black Panther other than play a Secret Avengers and try to rally for a character, but fail. Turn 7, my opponent hits his 7 drop Hulk, now staring me down with his 7, 6 and 4 (I think. He responded to a switching sides) in play. I think for a few moments and after about a minute I decide to simply take a chance and play my 2 drop Cap and Rally blind again. I hit and distribute counters to everybody. I think it over and play my other 2 drop Cap and hope for the best, guessing that since I've only got about 10 cards left at this point, my next card is a 6 drop, which it is, and distribute another round of counters, bringing The Captain up to 8. I give Cap 2 drop his shield and give The Captain Baron Doom a Satan Claw. This makes Whitey cringe a little and scoop once more (I had another I am doom and 3 characters to k.o. to it which would have brought the counter total up to 12, making the Captain more than any one of his characters could handle.

This ended the tournament with me getting first place and choosing the Iron Man Shirt for my prize, since it is one of the ones I hadn't gotten yet.



Highlights included realizing how awesome Baron Strucker is with a Switching Sides and a Satan Claw.. Strucker stuns himself and the target, setting up the delayed trigger for the recovery phase, but if you switching Sides the opposing character before then, you'll get to recover both of them and your normal for the turn recovery! How often do you see that come up?

Thanks for looking and hope you enjoyed.

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