Fear Black Manta. FEAR HIM!!!!

SCENARIO: 600-point four-way Battle Royale
MY TAKE:
Crispus Allen 197
Black Manta (Arkham Asylum) + Submerged 73
Goliath (Secret Invasion) 58
Power Man & Iron Fist 136
Cloak & Dagger 109
R Black Panther (Universe) 27
SCOTT’s take
Ganthet 286
Metron 195
AV Wonder Man 117
LENNY’s take
JL Superman + Fortitude + Protected 259
AA Wonder Woman + Contingency Plan 260
OOTS Batman 75
PAUL’s take
FF E She-Hulk 127
F4 LE Johnny Storm 100
Tharok 100
MM E Spider-Man 97
FF LE Sue Storm + Fantastic Four 49
Crystal 62
Medusa 57
We played at the Docks, which made Black Manta VERY happy. Power Man & Iron Fist weren’t pleased with having to slog through the water, though. 
Paul got the first points when Scott moved Wonder Man within range of a single target Pulse Wave by Johnny Storm. Scott decided to focus on Paul’s team in general and Sue Storm in particular. “I don’t wanna be swinging at 19 defense all night,” he said. Apart from a shoot-for-the-moon transporter drive-by from Black Manta, I left his two Quintessence pieces alone to tangle with Sue and Co. huddling on or near the Vine on the corner rooftop.
I advanced carefully, keeping Crispus well out of the fray, Cloak & Dagger in cover and Power Man & Iron Fist behind Goliath and others, trying to get an angle on Superman or Wonder Woman in particular. 
I at last got a shot at the Man of Steel with Power Man & Iron Fist, but forgot that Fortitude would nullify the Exploit Weakness. Missed, anyway. Then CRITICAL-missed with Crispus Allen. A followup attack with Cloak & Dagger got Lenny to burn his Protected rather than eat even the reduced damage. That opened Supes up for…
…Black Manta!!!! Rolled highly enough to hit Supes’ 19 DV through hindering with Psychic Blast. And as soon as he could move, Superman broke away to the relative safety of the roof. 
Yes. It’s true. Superman ran from Black Manta. Like a little girl.
(Well, OK, to be fair, there was also Power Man & Iron Fist and Cloak & Dagger to contend with, so in actuality he was retreating from them as well. But still. :) )
Goliath managed to tag OOTS Batman (thanks to Scott using his Metron’s Probability Control to give me a reroll or two) but fell to a sniper shot from Paul’s Johnny Storm. Meanwhile Lenny had taken the most points within the initial time limit by KOing She-Hulk and Metron in the massive rooftop melee. We played on since the night was still young and things were getting good. Especially for me, as Power Man & Iron Fist pasted Batman on the way up there.
Because Crispus was on his worst click, I pushed him past it to tie up Wonder Woman and Superman, trusting that Scott’s Ganthet wouldn’t take any opportunity to shoot him. It worked; his Mystics TA is a great deterrent. Unfortunately, it didn’t deter another critical miss, so while he was able to nullify Wonder Woman’s powers nicely, he didn’t do a lot of damage. Indeed, he was taking a great deal of damage, ending up on his last click.
Which brings us to the absolute turning point of the game. Crispus was next to Superman, who had Force Blast and a token. Because Force Blast isn’t an attack, it would circumvent both Super Senses and Power Man & Iron Fist’s Defend (which I was finally remembering to use) while NOT triggering Mystics and slam Crispus into the map edge for knockback damage — and a KO. But Lenny obviously didn’t realize it’d be a knockout blow and didn’t want to push Superman. Crispus was alive — barely.
Cloak & Dagger got to the roof to set up for a followup attack on various targets, using Black Panther as a meat shield. BP soon fell to Paul’s short-range shots. But again, Black Manta dealt serious damage to otherwise hard targets with his Psychic Blast. Between him and my duo figures on the roof I took both Wonder Woman and Superman’s points.
That left Scott’s Ganthet as the major threat on the map. He’d retreated clear to the other side of that end of the map to use the healing Eleha’al Vine that Lenny had placed, and with his Quintessence-granted ability to push and not take damage, he was healing up FAST! But I still had the remains of Paul’s Fantastic Four TA team to deal with — especially after Spider-Man finished off Black Manta before the helmet-clad pirate could get back to the Submerged safety of the water. Fortunately, the only other targets left were very weakened Crystal and Tharok; I made very sort work of them. 
Cloak & Dagger used Stealth to creep up on a full-power Ganthet, encouraging the Guardian of the Universe to retreat from their threat of Psychic Blast. That cleared the way for Crispus Allen to make his way to the Eleha’al Vine for his own use, guarded by Power Man & Iron Fist’s 18 Defend. (Yes, they were still on their top click.)
Ganthet perched on a nearby roof for easy shots on Crispus, forcing me to sacrifice Cloak & Dagger, then Power Man & Iron Fist, to stall for Crispus to heal as much as possible before Paul’s Outwit-wielding Spidey could get into the mix. Crispus got back to an Impervious click and then managed to finish off Ganthet and Spider-Man for the win.
Keys to victory
Black Manta with Submerged is surprisingly good. In fact, Black Manta with anything is surprisingly good. His “Pirate” SP gives him just enough flexibility to work around his mediocre stats and make him a threat with his transporter move+attack. 
Knowing the dials of friend and foe. 
Using opponents’ tactics against them. Paul’s bunkering ’round his Eleha’al Vine drew attention that way, keeping me from being double teamed early on. Later, Lenny’s Vine would prove an advantage for both Scott and me. 
Next post, I’ll tell how Lenny cured me of ever playing a tournament again without considering Battlefield Conditions. EVER.

 

THE SCENARIO: 600-point four-way Battle Royale

 

MY TAKE:

Crispus Allen 197
Black Manta (Arkham Asylum) + Submerged 73
Goliath (Secret Invasion) 58
Power Man & Iron Fist 136
Cloak & Dagger 109
R Black Panther (Universe) 27

 

SCOTT’s take

Ganthet 286
Metron 195
V Wonder Man (Avengers) 117

 

LENNY’s take

Superman (Justice League rare) + Fortitude + Protected 259
Wonder Woman (Arkham Asylum) + Contingency Plan 260
Batman (Justice League common) 75

 

PAUL’s take

E She-Hulk (Supernova) 127
LE Johnny Storm (Secret Invasion) 100
Tharok 100
E Spider-Man (Mutant Mayhem) 97
LE Sue Storm (Fantastic Forces)+ Fantastic Four 49
Crystal 62
Medusa 57

 

We played at the Docks, which made Black Manta VERY happy. Power Man & Iron Fist weren’t pleased with having to slog through the water, though. 

 

Paul got the first points when Scott moved Wonder Man within range of a single target Pulse Wave by Johnny Storm. Scott decided to focus on Paul’s team in general and Sue Storm in particular. “I don’t wanna be swinging at 19 defense all night,” he said. Apart from a shoot-for-the-moon transporter drive-by from Black Manta, I left his two Quintessence pieces alone to tangle with Sue and Co. huddling on or near the Vine on the corner rooftop.

I advanced carefully, keeping Crispus well out of the fray, Cloak & Dagger in cover and Power Man & Iron Fist behind Goliath and others, trying to get an angle on Superman or Wonder Woman in particular. 

 

I at last got a shot at the Man of Steel with Power Man & Iron Fist, but forgot that Fortitude would nullify the Exploit Weakness. Missed, anyway. Then CRITICAL-missed with Crispus Allen. A followup attack with Cloak & Dagger got Lenny to burn his Protected rather than eat even the reduced damage. That opened Supes up for…

…Black Manta!!!! Rolled highly enough to hit Supes’ 19 DV through hindering with Psychic Blast. And as soon as he could move, Superman broke away to the relative safety of the roof. 

Yes. It’s true. Superman ran from Black Manta. Like a little girl.

(Well, OK, to be fair, there was also Power Man & Iron Fist and Cloak & Dagger to contend with, so in actuality he was retreating from them as well. But still. :) )

Goliath managed to tag OOTS Batman (thanks to Scott using his Metron’s Probability Control to give me a reroll or two) but fell to a sniper shot from Paul’s Johnny Storm. Meanwhile Lenny had taken the most points within the initial time limit by KOing She-Hulk and Metron in the massive rooftop melee. We played on since the night was still young and things were getting good. Especially for me, as Power Man & Iron Fist pasted Batman on the way up there.

Because Crispus was on his worst click, I pushed him past it to tie up Wonder Woman and Superman, trusting that Scott’s Ganthet wouldn’t take any opportunity to shoot him. It worked; his Mystics TA is a great deterrent. Unfortunately, it didn’t deter another critical miss, so while he was able to nullify Wonder Woman’s powers nicely, he didn’t do a lot of damage. Indeed, he was taking a great deal of damage, ending up on his last click.

Which brings us to the absolute turning point of the game. Crispus was next to Superman, who had Force Blast and a token. Because Force Blast isn’t an attack, it would circumvent both Super Senses and Power Man & Iron Fist’s Defend (which I was finally remembering to use) while NOT triggering Mystics and slam Crispus into the map edge for knockback damage — and a KO. But Lenny obviously didn’t realize it’d be a knockout blow and didn’t want to push Superman. Crispus was alive — barely.

Cloak & Dagger got to the roof to set up for a followup attack on various targets, using Black Panther as a meat shield. BP soon fell to Paul’s short-range shots. But again, Black Manta dealt serious damage to otherwise hard targets with his Psychic Blast. Between him and my duo figures on the roof I took both Wonder Woman and Superman’s points.

That left Scott’s Ganthet as the major threat on the map. He’d retreated clear to the other side of that end of the map to use the healing Eleha’al Vine that Lenny had placed, and with his Quintessence-granted ability to push and not take damage, he was healing up FAST! But I still had the remains of Paul’s Fantastic Four TA team to deal with — especially after Spider-Man finished off Black Manta before the helmet-clad pirate could get back to the Submerged safety of the water. Fortunately, the only other targets left were very weakened Crystal and Tharok; I made very sort work of them. 

Cloak & Dagger used Stealth to creep up on a full-power Ganthet, encouraging the Guardian of the Universe to retreat from their threat of Psychic Blast. That cleared the way for Crispus Allen to make his way to the Eleha’al Vine for his own use, guarded by Power Man & Iron Fist’s 18 Defend. (Yes, they were still on their top click.)

 

Ganthet perched on a nearby roof for easy shots on Crispus, forcing me to sacrifice Cloak & Dagger, then Power Man & Iron Fist, to stall for Crispus to heal as much as possible before Paul’s Outwit-wielding Spidey could get into the mix. Crispus got back to an Impervious click and then managed to finish off Ganthet and Spider-Man for the win.

Keys to victory

  • Black Manta with Submerged is surprisingly good. In fact, Black Manta with anything is surprisingly good. His “Pirate” SP gives him just enough flexibility to work around his mediocre stats and make him a threat with his transporter move+attack. 
  • Knowing the dials of friend and foe. 
  • Using opponents’ tactics against them. Paul’s bunkering ’round his Eleha’al Vine drew attention that way, keeping me from being double teamed early on. Later, Lenny’s Vine would prove an advantage for both Scott and me. 

Next post, I’ll tell how Lenny cured me of ever playing a tournament again without considering Battlefield Conditions. EVER.

1 comment

  1. Unfortunately, it seems that Black Manta cannot use Submerged, as it requires the dolphin symbol. Manta has the dolphin TRANSPORTER symbol. :(

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