So the newest Michigan Wizkids Open Champion has just been crowned, and the winner is… Me!!! It could be luck, it could be my awesome play, or it could just be because the Canadian nationals were on the same day and the normal Toronto crew was absent. But whatever way you slice it, I won and I’ll take it!

[EDITOR’S NOTE: Clearly it was luck!! Just kidding. I kid… ]

But enough self aggrandizing for now, let me tell you about…

My Team

ABPI011 Ant-Man – (30 points) My second favorite member of the team. His defenses are top notch for his point cost and he made a wonderful secondary attacker with a surprising amount of KOs on the day, but the real reason to play him is his ability to make anyone else on my team small. This allowed for excellent mobility by letting any of the other three characters carry each other. My favorite move was shrinking and carrying a double-token-ed Kobik up to an opposing character and then having her use her cube to give that character an action token when they thought they were safe. It also solved a lot of line of sight issues by shrinking my guys to let Kobik or Hulk see who they needed to see.

ABPI014 Hulk – (125points) The damage dealer of the team, and also the damage absorbing member of the team. His 12 attack and 5 damage made opponents fearful, but it’s the amount of clicks of life he had combined with his healing that truly made him great. Several times during the day he hit for 5 and 6 damage (often while outwitting defense before the hit). And opponents hated how he just wouldn’t die. With reducers on every click an opponent would have to bring psychic blast, outwit, or the raw damage output of someone like Thanos to even have a shot at knocking out Hulk. He has 8 clicks of life and heals for 1 the turn after he’s hit. Opponents would end up having to effectively go through 10 or 11 clicks of life before they finally saw the Hulk be KOed. 

ABPI021 Ayo – (30 points) The easiest of my team to KO. She had some moments to shine and made a good piece to use carry others with Ant-Man around, but overall she paled in Comparison to Ant-Man and she was exactly the same amount of points. Her biggest blades roll all day was 3 points of damage.

ABPI069 Kobik – (100 points) The best member of my team. I’d read about her exploits at nationals this year, but I hadn’t ever played her or even seen her in person. She has a distinct learning curve, but once you get the hang of her she is everything they said she was. Whether it was using dual target mind control from 11 range, or taking away Power Cosmic AND Mystics TA, or giving someone an action token (and pushing damage) with her item – she was worth the the hype. I was not a believer before today, I am now.

ABPI069T Hi, I’m Kobik – (15 points) Kobik’s cosmic cube was the real star of the show. It’s what makes her so broken. All three options it provides are great and as free actions with no chance of having to roll dice to avoid taking damage (like both of the set’s gauntlets), there is no reason not to use this every turn. I now believe that this is the most powerful item in the set (and that’s really saying something).

Total: 300 points

The Games

I ended up going 6 and 1 for the day only losing versus a team featuring both the Thanos Ultra Chase and Taskmaster in round round 1. Five of the wins were 300 to 0 or 300 to 30 (losing only Ayo).

The Semifinals

Versus:

• ABPI074 Thanos (160 points)
• ABPI061 Taskmaster (100 points)
• ABPI005 A.I.M. Red Squad (20 points)
• ABPI007 Wakandan Scientist (15 points)
• 295 points total

This was versus the same Thanos team that I had lost to 300 to 0 in round 1. I was determined not to make the same mistakes twice. He won map roll and we played on Amok Time. My team is close combat focused and on this map I was in danger of getting killed by ranged attacks before I ever got near his team. I courageously hid in a corner behind a pillar until he got to about mid map with only Kobik sticking out. I managed to land a dual target mind control when he got to within 11 of me, but missed with Thanos and had Skeet roll impervious against Taskmaster. On his turn he gave Taskmaster running shot and ridiculously modified stats and tried to attack Kobik. She hit shape change and he had no other targets. Then I sprang into action on my turn. Hulk was shrunk by ant man and carried up to Taskmaster by Kobik. Kobik used her item to give Taskmaster a second token so he couldn’t do anything the next turn. Ayo carried Ant Man up to base Thanos. Kobik gave both Thano’s TAs to Hulk so Thanos lost willpower. On my opponents turn he he could do anything with Taskmaster except chose combat reflexes. Thanos faced the decision of pushing to try to attack Ant-man because he already had one action token. He chose to pass the turn. On my next turn Hulk outwitted combat reflexes and brought taskmaster down to his last click. Then one of my 30 point attackers finished Taskmaster off. The rest of the game went well from there. Kobik eventually made it over to Thanos and kept adding action tokens every turn while simultaneously denying him willpower. The Hulk eventually killed everyone except Skreet (who was killed by a mind controlled Thanos). The game ended in a 300 to nothing victory.

The Finals

Versus:

•  ABPI010 S.H.I.E.L.D. Diplomat (20 points)
• ABPI011 Ant-Man (30 points)
• ABPI012 Crystal (50 points)
• ABPI021 Ayo (30 points)
• ABPI022 A.I.M. White Squad (20 points)
• ABPI041A Falcon (60 points)
• ABPI056 Kang, the Conquerer (80 points)
• 300 points total

This was another team I had played earlier in the day. Our first match was pretty even until Hulk KO’d his Ant-Man and I used his Ant-Man to turn the tide of the battle. He won Map Roll and we played on the Docks, which features a large Elevated Terrain feature in the middle. He advanced up and created a time portal before I could do anything, but once any of his guys got within 11 squares, Kobik started taking shots at them from range (Ignoring Elevated) with her dual target Mind Control. Unfortunately for me, that only resulted in Redwing hitting Falcon for 1.

The next turn my opponent had Falcon use Hypersonic Speed to attack Kobik. A miss. On my turn, Hulk charged out and knocked Falcon to his stop click. My opponent had been waiting for Hulk to come into range and on his turn he had Kang Teleport and then use Running Shot to get to the edge of the elevation and shoot Hulk for 4 Penetrating damage. Then Crystal flew in and used free action Quake to damage both my 30 point characters. By blocking the stairs, Kobik couldn’t get next to Kang and give him action tokens–a smart move on my opponents part!

The match remained close as Kang KO’d Hulk with only a few minutes remaining, and then Ayo immediately after. However, I responded next turn by KOing his Ant-Man and then (in the same turn) using that Ant-man (now friendly to my force) to KO Crystal. In the end I won 190 to 155. I lost Hulk and Ayo and he lost everyone except Kang and Ayo.

Conclusion

For my first WKO Event win, I received the following LE’s: Ambrose Chase, Reverse Flash, Flash, and Steve Trevor. I also pulled a Kobik today that I am going to use repeatedly until she is retired. And most importantly of all, I got sweet, sweet, bragging rights until the next WKO comes around.

See you then!!