Unleash This! #2 When lunch and vs collide and when Heroes meet up

Welcome back to the Unleash This! column, dream team!* You may have read in passing that I've taught a guy at my college how to play and found another person who used to play a little at orientation this year. Well, I ran into this person again at lunch and something amazing happened --> my vs fire started to burn brighter. I went total-geek, in response to his questions about the X-Men, Wild Vomit, Syndicate Rush and more.

Question #1
I heard of a match where Wolverine absolutely tore apart an entire field of Sentinels (Pre-MVL). Is Wolverine really that good?

A: I'm guessing that Wolverine, Beserker Rage was the card you heard about --> and yes, he's pretty good. Usually, if you get to turn 7 and whip this guy out, your opponent won't have too many characters cost 4 or less. That said, if your opponent is running wild sentinels where everything is cost 4 or less, Wolverine would just go to town on them. However, the odds of a Wild Sentinel deck getting to a late turn like 7 isn't all that great (or at least their chance at winning goes down as the game progresses), since the Wild Sentinel deck aims to win on 4-6.

So, no. Wolverine isn't busted by any means; he's just really good at what he does /cheesyflavortext.

Question #2

How good are the Avengers? What do they do?

A: The Avengers are a very viable team, and they've had some great showings in past events. They have a couple things going for them:

• They have a great team attacking theme
• Having the ability to recruit characters from your resource row can make in-game decisions all the easier.
• Having effects tied into the reservist theme only enhance their viability
• Iconic characters with awesome powers? Iron Man, Mighty Avenger, Spider-Man, Secret Avenger, The Sentry, Mighty Avenger? They. Are. Awesome.

I honestly think the Avengers are the most versatile team in the game; You can rush, you can curve, and as of MUN, now you can stall. Your rush game, as we've seen at worlds, is a very strong reservist build. The curve build, I'd like to refer to as the build that relies more on team attacking. In the oldschool Avengers Reservist build, you short-curved to 5/6. That said, you had Black Widow, Black Panther, Quicksilver Mutant Avenger and Carol Danvers to fit the team attacking theme. I've even seen some decks try to abuse Quicksilver's team attacking power by trying to get 2 copies of him into play to team attack an entire board!** Finally, they can stall? Yes. Just some characters that fit the theme: Hawkeye (all), Iron Man 4 and 5, Spider-Man (Access to Gift Wrapped), Cable Secret Avenger, Bill Foster, Stature, and not to mention the team has a bunch of combat-based trickery (like not stunning, pumps etc.).

Question #3
Is Onslaught any good?

A: He is ... but if I'm going to turn 9 because that is what I aim to do, I'd rather drop down Galactus or The Fallen One. They are game-enders. If I drop Onslaught, he's rather conditional; my opponent might have a chance to respond, chance to attack first, might have multiple teams in play. He just has a bunch of variables and I'm not a statsman. I don't play pokemon tcg because effects that depend on how a coin flip turns out don't appeal to me (not to mention they're nasty little buggers). That said, Onslaught works very well in combat-stall-esque decks like Kariggi's Fantastic Four Life Gain (which I'll add a decklist if I get one.). Another honorable mention would have to go to imperidex; he's been in plenty of stall decks and as recently as Brian Eugenio's Sniper Shot deck.


Question #4
For when we play later, can you build me something with Carnage and Venom?

A: Certainly, Greg. SynSyn Rush it is.

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The Easter Egg to this entry is going to delve a little into 9thwonders.com, the official NBC Heroes tv show forum where I've recently signed up. I've got something in the works for both forums, and while looking around the fan creations forum I saw that themightytruk is a moderator over there. Does the name sound familiar? It might, as he is a poster on the 'reams too! After a nice exchange of greetings, I noticed a couple of his creations:







Alex Lloyd is a frequent poster on vsrealms.com as "Orange_Soda_Man" and is starting a new journey on 9thwonders.com as "OrangeSodaMan" to become a true Hero. If you would like to help him or wish to embark on the path of Heroism yourself, I encourage you to take a page from themightytruk and make a card, whether on cardboard or a creation of a different sort in your life.

*I refer to all groups of people I am addressing at once as Dream Team. I must've heard it somewhere or something.
** That's gonna have to wait for another time.