DTL Season 5-Week 4 (Set 4)

[DTL Commish]

The rules:
This is one of four threads containing matches.
The threads will be in use for 7 days. Days 1-3 (Tuesday-Thursday) are strictly setup time for owners to plead their cases, tell us their team’s strategies, breakdown the match ups, and do whatever else they can/want to do to try and convince you that their team would pull out a victory. Please, let the owners do this on their own with no help from you, the fan.

Debates will open to everyone on Day 4 (Friday) once I post that they are open. On Day 6 (Sunday) I will post and tell everyone that voting may begin. Only after doing so will voting start. Any votes cast before I open voting will not count.

Look over the matchups and read the owners strategies and take into consideration how in-character each character is. Afterwards, use your best judgment to decide who you think has the best chance to win the match up. (Note: The length of a writeup is up to the owner. Do not punish owners just for having a shorter writeup.)

To vote, post the team names you think will prevail in each match. Remember, to vote for each match up or your vote will not count! The teams with the highest vote total at the end of the 7th day (Monday) will get a W while the other will get an L. (Equal votes will result in a tie.)

The battleground for this week is: The Blue Area of the Moon

The Immortals
Tony Stark: Sorcerer Supreme (MU) - Mage with high tech armor.
"Burnt Offering" Cable (MU) - High level Telekinetic and Telepath with a healing factor.
Talisman (MM) - Powerful mage and commander of spirits.
"Death"Wolverine (MR) - Heaing factor, enhanced senses, unbreakable skeleton and claws, armor which grants immunity to telepathy and cloaking, sword which fires energy blasts.
Midnighter (DR) - Tech-enhanced fighter with move prediction, enhanced durability, and heightened healing and senses.

VS.

Chaos & Order
Shanzar (MU) - Sorcerer Supreme of the Strange Matter dimension.
Exodus (MU) - Mutant with powerful telepathy and telekinesis.
Flash (Jay Garick) (DM) - Speedster with decades of experience and connection with the Speed Force.
Proctor (MR) - Super strength, durability, healing. Energy blasts. Ebony Blade.
Fate (Jared Stevens) (DR) - Super strength, durability. Mutated left arm. Magical connection to weapons. Immune to magic.

 

[wiegeabo]

Prep-time

"I despise being manipulated." Shanzar blasts at the images he somehow created, but the stubbornly refuse to obey his commands.

Proctor: "Do you really think any of us enjoy this?"

Shanzar: "Do you really think I care?"

Proctor: "I've had about enough of your constant complaining."

Shanzar shrugs his shoulders. "If I kill you, it solves both of our problems."

Proctor doesn't even flinch. He pulls the Ebony Blade an inch out of it's hilt. "You're welcome to try." Shanzar's hands glow with energy.

Jay: "What's going on with you? We're supposed to be a team. I'm not about to let your bickering endanger us al-" Jay grabs his throat in pain.

Exodus holds Jay in a telekinetic grip. "No, let them finish each other off. Maybe it will end this madness. Or maybe they'll finally realize just how foolish they are and focus on the task at hand."

Fate: "Let him go." Exodus ignores the human. "Yeah, we're getting off to a great start."

Shanzar: "Stay out of this."

Fate: "If I could find some brew, I'd be more than happy to. But there's not a damn bit of alcohol in this place, and you're giving me a headache."

Shanzar turns on Fate. "Then let me cure you of it!" He blasts his teammate. A section of wall is obliterated.

"Are you finished?" The smoke clears, and Fate stands there, hands in the pockets of his leather jacket, quite unimpressed. "Yes? Good. Now, I don't know about you, but I don't plan on getting my ass handed to me tomorrow. So let's look over these guys," he indicates the images, "and figure out how to not let that happen."

Exodus releases Jay, who drops to the ground, coughing. "You alright old timer?" Jared asks. Jay nods his head. Exodus ignores the exchange, too busy plotting.

Exodus: "The problem is not determining the best way to fight them. The problem is that they know what to expect from us."

Proctor: "We know their powers, they know ours. I fail to see the problem."

Exodus points at Cable. "He's the problem. I do not know about the others, but this one is a master warrior. No matter how we decide to come at them, he'll develop some kind of counter measure."

Jay: "We can't do the unexpected. I see where your going..."

Jared: "Riiiiiight. Well, I'm lost."

Exodus: "We won't have the element of surprise. So we have to give them exactly what they expect."

Proctor: "I see."

Shanzar: "As long as they suffer, I like it."

Jay: "So we're actually in agreement about something?"

Jared raises his hand. "Me. Standing here. Still lost."

Exodus: "Yes, we agree."

Jared throws his hands in the air as he stomps out of the room. "Son of a-"

Jay steps up to Exodus. "You ever try and do that to me again..." he whispers.

Exodus actually smiles...

 

[wiegeabo]

Battle-time

The Ubers
High above the city, where they can let loose while keeping their teammates safe from fallout, Shanzar and Exodus face off against their counterparts: Tony Stark and Cable. Both telepaths start out by probing the minds of the opposing sorcerers for weaknesses, but such an attack is short lived as Exodus and Cable put all their effort into attacking each other's weakness. And since concentrating on the mages would be a potentially fatal distraction, they have no choice but to put everything they have against each other. The minds wield and defend against telepathic attacks as they also attack and defend telekinetically. Forcefields glow from tk blows and tossed ruins while, in their minds, they dredge up each others darkest memories to torment the other.

Around them is the mage battle. Shanzar's extreme resistance to conventional spells is nearly negated by the sheer speed at which Stark unleashes his attacks through his armor. It's probably only this durability that keeps Shanzar in the fight. But more often than not, Shanzar is on the defensive rather than the offensive, negated or protecting himself for Stark's attacks. When the Crimson Bands of Cytorakk bind him, Shanzar breaks free. But, by the time he's cast the spell to do so, Stark has hit him with three others. Shanzar disappears into a portal, but when he returns, a dozen portals open. And from them all come demons, more than willing to do Shanzar's bidding. Stark blasts many, but more still come, pulling and ripping at his armor. And then Shanzar returns...


The 'Surprise'
Jared Stevens fighting Talisman is an obvious choice. He would be able to exploit his immunity against magic and take down a powerful foe. In fact, it's such an obvious, everyone knew their opponents would think of it. And it's the reason why Exodus insisted that it must occur. So, in essence, Jared is bait for the trap sure to come.

But for now, he's focuses on his opponent and is dying for a drink. None of Talisman's spells work on Jared. He just walks through them as easily as walking through air. But, he really has no way to attack Talisman since she stays in the air. He's thrown his ankhs at her, but she was able to avoid them. He even snuck in a building and was able to surprise her by jumping out a window, but she pushed him away with a mighty gust of wind. And once she realized that she could indirectly fight Fate, the battle became hers.

A mighty freeze of snow filled air clouded the ground, blasting Jared. Talisman keeps up the attack until two ankhs, under Fate's command, appears from the mists and strike Talisman's shoulders. She falls to the ground, hurt, but not nearly out. Fate goes to pull his knife, ready to press the advantage, but a sword to his throat stops him. "I've been watching you, bub," Logan says, standing behind Fate. "And you've got no skills."

Jared clasps his hands in front of him. "Man, you've just gone and made the biggest mistake of your life..."


More to come...

 

[DTL Commish]

Writeups are now closed.

Voting may now begin.

 

[Ahura Mazda]

Edit: just saw Weig' s post

 

[Khellendros]

Okay, this is going to be very bare-bones, I apologize.




Prep-time

After appearing on the blue area of the moon, the five-person team makes introductions, and explains things to the newcomer Talisman. That they must, as a team, do battle. Once they have all agreed that their best chance of survival is to trust each other, Cable links their minds as before, sharing the team's full knowledge of their skills, powers and experiences with one another.

While they are still linked mind-to-mind, the knowledge of their opponents comes to them, and they begin strategizing. After an hour or so of this (which, with the speed of telepathic communication, allows them relative days worth of planning time), the group separates, to prepare for tomorrow's battle in whichever way they deem appropriate. Talisman goes to meditate, center herself and commune with the Spirit World. Stark travels to Attilan, unseen, and gathers some basic raw materials. Working from ideas and schematics placed in his mind by Cable, he invokes the Hammer of Thor and the Anvil of Hephaestus (which Stark did in his What If to finish upgrading his armor), forming the materials into psi-blocker technology for his armor. Cable simply finds a place to sleep, to conserve and replenish his psychic energy. Midnighter and Death have a sparring match, trading blows that would hospitalize a normal martial artist.

In the last hour of their prep, everyone suits up. Stark activates his psi-blockers and, instead of fiddling with his spell database, he optimizes his armor's ability to channel power directly from the magical sources he would normally have to call out by name. In the last five minutes of prep, Stark begins summoning a score of perfectly realistic illusions of himself, granting them each the ability to cast a simple but effective hypnotic spell, as Dr. Strange did in Strange Tales 131 (I believe.. somewhere around there). While he does this, Talisman begins summoning wind spirits, to carry Death and Midnighter wherever they may need to go. In the last minute of prep, she also calls forth dozens of Wolf Spirits, commanding them to attack those they do not recognize, giving them impressions of Fate, Proctor and Garrick. Even as the last seconds of prep tick away, Tony and Talisman both cast spells to mask they and their team's presence from non-visual detection, and Midnighter moves into the effective range of Death's cloaking field, which also protects them from visual, technological, and psychic detection.


Next, the battle itself...

 

[Khellendros]

The Battle

Talisman/Cable vs Shanzar:

Talisman, telepathically linked with Cable, teleports them both to Shanzar's location, and immediately Cable attacks both his mind, telepathically, and his body, telekinetically. Talisman, borne aloft by her Wind Spirit, dispels any illusions in the area not cast by herself or Stark. She then concentrates primarily on protecting him from both possession attempts as well as offensive magic. Not only does she have a large immunity to magic herself, she can cancel out and reverse forms of magic she herself isn't able to cast, even when not direct at her, and is also incredibly skilled at blocking and reversing psychic dominance and spirit possessions. The logic behind this is that Exodus is a leech, perfectly suited to turning a battle with Cable into a dreadful war of attrition which neither is guaranteed to win, while logic would likely have suggested to the other side that neutralizing one Sorcerer Supreme with another would be the most likely course of action Cable's team would have undertaken. Still, with an anti-magic and an anti-possession specialist in a support role, this is Cable's fight to lose.


Stark vs Exodus:
flying intermingled with the twenty illusions, Strange comes upon Exodus already wielding the Eye of Agamotto, to dispel anyone else's illusions or trickery, magical or psychic in origin. As the illusions encircle Exodus, casting their hypnotic spells from every angle, Stark unleashes his full weaponry. Fusion power source combined with magical wellsprings. Left repulsor fires, energy beam burning with the Flames of the Faltine and right repulsor, intermingled with the unstoppable energy Daggers of Daveroth. His sonic weapon (powerful enough, on its own, to shatter one of Dormammu's gigantic stone guardians) combines the destructive sound energy with the tearing, battering power of the Winds of Watoomb. The uni-beam in his chest strikes physically with an energy beam and mentally with the bewildering, paralyzing light of Agamotto.

Stark's armor's magnetic beams, which reinforce the microscopic chain mail of his primary armor layer is boosted by the power of the bands of Cyttorak and the protective energy of the Seraphim. With the eye of Agamotto, he is capable of defending himself from any telepathic attack. And, finally, harried as he will be by mystical attacks on his mind by Stark's illusions and the light of Agamotto, Exodus will be hard pressed to mount an effective attack, much less defend himself against the onslaught.


Midnighter and Death vs Garrick, Fate and Proctor:
Flying silently and invisibly, the two will let the wolves lead the charge, forcing the trio to defend themselves rather than concentrating on finding their opponents (the wolves are, for all intents and purposes, real wolves. their bites are physical, as are the forms they move in). Setting down silently behind the battle, they wait until the most of the wolves have been returned to pure spirit state before Wolverine drops the cloak, unleashing a massive column of destructive energy from his sword at Proctor and Garrick, while Midnighter looses a handful of deadly throwing stars, aimed to cripple Fate rather than kill. Following instructions from their master, Talisman, the Wind Spirits leave their passengers, moving on to harry Garrick, by throwing debris in his path, attempting to knock him off his feet, etc. Anything to keep him busy while Death and Midnighter take on their opposite numbers.

Death versus Proctor will be interesting: Death with his sword that can pierce the Hulk's hide and Proctor with his Ebony Blade. Death's main advantage is his invisibility, and his tactic dropping cloak, attacking, and then recloaking before his opponent can react. And, although the Ebony Blade is impressive, it's unlikely it can shear through Primary adamantium, thus making it incredibly hard to deal lethal damage. Eventually, Proctor will be worn down.

Midnighter versus Fate is less interesting and more a foregone conclusion. Fate's future sight is unreliable, Midnighter's move prediction enhancements are always working. Fate may be more durable, but I can guarantee Midnighter is faster, and very likely stronger. Fate's weapons may be impressive, but his staff is as close to indestructible as anything comes in the Wildstorm Universe, and the throwing stars can pierce the skin and flesh of beings who can fly headfirst through steel and concrete with enough force to tear apart whole blocks of a city with their impact.

Garrick vs... the wind? Now, before anyone starts objecting, these are not winds, with maximum recoded velocities of three hundred miles an hour, but Wind Spirits. They can transport people thousands of miles in seconds, and propelled Alpha Flight's Omni Jet to keep pace with Northstar. And, once summoned, they are fully capable of acting completely separate from Talisman, once she has given them their instructions. It's unlikely they will stop Jay, as experienced as he is, but they will give him trouble until someone can turn their full attention to him.


Some final points:

Before anyone objects to Talisman summoning the Wind spirits to grant Midnighter, Death and herself flight, let me say that that is almost EXCLUSIVELY what Talisman uses them for: transporting and assisting teammates. If ANYTHING, summoning one of them to let her fly is more out of ordinary than the others. Also, same with the Wolf spirits. When she summoned them, it was to attack someone when she wasn't even present on the battlefield.

Strange cast the illusions and gave them the ability to hypnotize in Strange Tales 131, I believe, but I will confirm that later tonight. He used no artifacts for this, so it is valid for Stark as Sorcerer Supreme.

Shanzar may seem to have gone down too easily, with little mention of magic from me. There is a reason for that, and it is not because I'm lazy. In all his appearances, Shanzar did VERY LITTLE magically. He created a pair of mystical arms, which Grey Hulk was able to stop from pulling him into another dimension by grabbing a wooden floor. He possessed people, but Talisman is easily able to counter that. And he teleported to and from his dimension and used some generic energy blasts, which Talisman can cancel out or which may not even be able to breach Cable's shield. Shanzar's big things were the fact that he was hard to effect with magical attacks, and was good at possessing people. That's it.

 

[Aristotle]

Uh, Wiegs? You closed the writeups without ever doing one...

 

[Khellendros]

Yeah, I think he'll get around to it, though.

 

[Aristotle]

One would hope so.

 

[Khellendros]

Seriously, if we get another win by default, I am not going to be amused.

 

[Aristotle]

Especially against the head guy. That just wouldn't be kosher.

 

[wiegeabo]

I couldn't keep writeups open, even for me. Especially since I knew I wouldn't be able to get one up until tonight. But I'm working on it. It's pretty much written out, now I have to type the damn thing.

 

[Khellendros]

Ah, well. At least the first half of the writeup was enjoyable.

 

[X]

Seriously, if we get another win by default, I am not going to be amused.

Yeah, isn't it pure ****?

 

[wiegeabo]

Battle-Part II

Flash runs into Midnighter, but it's not an overwhelming fight. Midnighter is actually able to anticipate Flash, even with superspeed, and surprise him with a few attacks of his own. Midnighter blocks nearly every thrown punch, and withstands any that do get through. He even lands some of his own, surprising Jay. Just as Jay backs off to press a new attack, Midnighter escapes into a building to restrict Jay's movements. Jay runs in but is forced to phase to avoid being hit by a couple of throwing stars. At the same time Midnighter throws the stars, he spins a kick backwards, slamming his boot into Proctors chest just as he teleports in. Proctor is slammed against the wall. Spinning in the air, Midnighter lands a devistating kick to Jay's head just as he dephases to attack. Jay goes down, but Midnighter drops to his knees, grabbing his head as Proctor scrambles his brain. Still, Midnighter tries to fight, throwing more stars. They hit Proctor dead in the chest, but he ignores them and finishes his opponent with the Blade.

"No!" Jay tries to shout. But Proctor is already gone.


Battle in the sky
Before his armor takes any serious damage, Tony is able to cast a dispersion spell, sending the demon to whence they came. But this gives Shanzar the time he needs to exit a portal and slam into Stark, possessing him...

...or at least trying to. Stark and Shanzar battle on the astral-plane as Shanzar tries to take Iron Man's body for himself, and Tony uses his own powers to fight back. In this realm, the fight could take ages. But Tony soon weakens and falters, his astral-form disappearing. Shanzar leaves Stark's body behind, not needing to possess it as his ultra-dense body mass crushes the human.

This lets Shanzar join forces with Exodus. It's hard to determine which mutant would be winning this long into the fight. They are both extremely powerful and brilliant warriors. But regardless of how they are faring, Shanzar turns the tide. I imagine Cable would try to attack both, hoping to knock them out with one fell swoop. This may affect, even stop, Shanzar, but not Exodus. Most likely, Cable or Exodus would burn the other out by also burning themselves out. Either way, Shanzar survives.


The Trap
Grabbing the end of his bandage with his left hand, Jared pulls it off and slams his mutated hand against Logan. It forces him against a wall, pinning him in place. Logan stabs and slashes at the arm with both sword and claw, but the arm keeps growing, engulfing him. This gives Talisman the chance to attack, forcing Jared off the attack by causing the ground beneath him to jut upwards. This frees Logan, but Proctor arrives, forcing a masterful sword duel as Logan's armor and healing factor allow him to shrug off the other attacks.

Talisman causes the ground Jared stands on to slam him into a building. She hopes to bury him inside, trapping him. But a freshly healed Flash is able to phase through her and take her down. At this point, even if Logan is still standing (which wouldn't actually be surprising), he'd be facing at least Jay, Proctor, and Fate. And that's assuming Cable was able to take out Exodus and Shanzar. If he wasn't, there's no way Logan can hold out.

Chaos & Order walk away.

 

[wiegeabo]

Ok, writeup's done. Not exactly what I wanted, but it was getting longer than I expected.

 

[Aristotle]

I tend to go with Wiegs here, I think. His matchups are more sensible, I think, and they would probably go down about the way he says. I mean, I'm really limited-knowledge on some of these guys (Shanzar vs. Stark Supreme, for example), but I tend to buy his writeup more just because I like the matchups better, and the ones that have characters I am familiar with are more convincing.

 

[Khellendros]

Well, now that that's done, tiem for the debating.

Okay, the way he wrote the Uber battle, I don't really have many problems with (and I'll address the problems I do have with it later on), because that's more or less how it would go down IF Cable and Stark were dumb enough to do it that way. Thing is, even in his own writeup, Wieg admits that Cable is a skilled warrior. Why fight attrition warfare, when you can do the unexpected and throw your enemies off-balance, turning their strengths into weakness? That is some fairly basic military and combat strategy right there.

But for now, he's focuses on his opponent and is dying for a drink. None of Talisman's spells work on Jared. He just walks through them as easily as walking through air. But, he really has no way to attack Talisman since she stays in the air. He's thrown his ankhs at her, but she was able to avoid them. He even snuck in a building and was able to surprise her by jumping out a window, but she pushed him away with a mighty gust of wind. And once she realized that she could indirectly fight Fate, the battle became hers.

Let me stop this right here. See, you give her credit for realizing she can beat him indirectly, but then you have her hit him with cold weather which, while a valid tactic, ismuch less decisive than, say opening the ground at his feet to swallow him, like so: http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d187/A_Flight/AlphaFlight35-11.jpg except without the running start and the several feet of warning that Shaman had.

She falls to the ground, hurt, but not nearly out. Fate goes to pull his knife, ready to press the advantage, but a sword to his throat stops him. "I've been watching you, bub," Logan says, standing behind Fate. "And

Again, I'll stop this right there. This isn't the usual Logan, this is Death, and if he got close enough to Jared to do this, he wouldn've popped his head off with his pigsticker, not stood there whispering in his ear.

Battle in the sky
Before his armor takes any serious damage, Tony is able to cast a dispersion spell, sending the demon to whence they came. But this gives Shanzar the time he needs to exit a portal and slam into Stark, possessing him...

...or at least trying to. Stark and Shanzar battle on the astral-plane as Shanzar tries to take Iron Man's body for himself, and Tony uses his own powers to fight back. In this realm, the fight could take ages. But Tony soon weakens and falters, his astral-form disappearing. Shanzar leaves Stark's body behind, not needing to possess it as his ultra-dense body mass crushes the human.

Okay, this is the part I MOST object to in the Shanzar/Stark battle. Stark is very powerful in Astral form, able to take on Dormammu even without his armor for a short time. Meanwhile, Shanzar was given trouble by Bruce Banner's mind of all people. And, the Eye of Agamotto has the ability to work for its owner even in Astral form, making Stark that much more formidable, mentally. Oh, and let us not forget that, while they are battling astrally, Stark can cause his armor to grab Shanzar's body and teleport way with it, like he did to Dormammu, stranding him without a body.

So, aside from the fact that Cable is much more likely to set up matches the way I wrote them, Shanzar tryng to possess Stark would be his last mistake.

Oh, and I checked. It was Strang Tales 131 in which Strange gave his illusions the power of hypnotism, invoking the Moons of Munnopor.

 

[Aristotle]

hmmm...Khel does have some pretty good textual support for his argumentation...

 

[Khellendros]

Damn skippy.

 

[wiegeabo]

Ok, looking at Khell's battle...

Cable and Talisman are a tough pair. But Shanzar can call forth a variety of demons to attack Talisman, forcing her attention away from the fight. This would leave Cable vulnerable to magical attack. Exodus could also use the distraction to teleport away and help Exodus against Stark (who, admittedly, would be having a tough time against such a powerful version of Iron Man). And even if Cable and Talisman join that fight, it will play out pretty much like I already said. Talisman is a tough wild card, but her being in the uber fight leaves Midnighter and Death vulnerable.


As for the regs, the Ebony Blade can't cut through adamantium, but it can cut through everything else. This includes Logan forcefield, armor, and flesh. Infact, the Blade could absorb all the energy of his forcefield (and cloak) as well as the flame of his sword. And to find Logan, all Proctor would have to do is blast the area with energy, teleporting in Logan's cloak showed up. And since the Blade makes Proctor immortal, neither character will be able to kill the other. It's going to be an impressive fight.

Then there's still Jay and Fate. Wind spirits would be just an annoyance for Jay. He could outrun them (a Flash can do more than thousands of miles a second) or just blow them away with vortexes from his hands. And, all the while he's running, he can attack Midnighter and Logan. And Fate doesn't even have an opponent at this point, so he could use his arm to help either Jay or Logan. Not having Talisman in the fight leaves your regs very vulnerable.

I could even mix this up and have Jay attack Logan and Proctor go after Midnighter. Proctor/Midnighter would be another great fight. And Jay could quickly find Death by just running around phased. The phasing would protect him from attack. If Jay can phase through Adamantium, he's going to really hurt Logan. If not, he'll still find him when he runs into him and be able to keep him busy.

 

[wiegeabo]

Okay, the way he wrote the Uber battle, I don't really have many problems with (and I'll address the problems I do have with it later on), because that's more or less how it would go down IF Cable and Stark were dumb enough to do it that way. Thing is, even in his own writeup, Wieg admits that Cable is a skilled warrior. Why fight attrition warfare, when you can do the unexpected and throw your enemies off-balance, turning their strengths into weakness? That is some fairly basic military and combat strategy right there.

If it's just the ubers fighting each other, mage-mage and telepath-telepath is the only chance either team has. Otherwise the telepaths are going to have a hard time against the mages, and then it will be a mage-mage battle.

Using Talisman as a wildcard does change the odds in your team's favor, but it leaves your regs very vulnerable. And Jay and Proctor can give your ubers a run for their money. And Fate can be an especially painful thorn in Stark's side with help from the others.

Let me stop this right here. See, you give her credit for realizing she can beat him indirectly, but then you have her hit him with cold weather which, while a valid tactic, ismuch less decisive than, say opening the ground at his feet to swallow him, like so: http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d187/A_Flight/AlphaFlight35-11.jpg except without the running start and the several feet of warning that Shaman had.

Talisman didn't strike me as someone who'd want to seriously hurt or kill, which is what swallowing up someone in the ground would do. She could also end up hurting/taking out Logan if she did so (he could get swallowed up too). Trying to freeze Jared will more than likely just wear him out and keep him from putting up a fight (as well as avoid hurting Logan who'd be protected by his forcefield).

Again, I'll stop this right there. This isn't the usual Logan, this is Death, and if he got close enough to Jared to do this, he wouldn've popped his head off with his pigsticker, not stood there whispering in his ear.

I wasn't sure about Death's personality because I thought he was able to resist/fight against the brainwashing. But even if he killed Jared, Logan and Talisman would still have to fight Jay and Proctor (who should be able to take care of Midnighter). Jay can take down Talisman before she realizes what's hapening. And a Proctor/Death battle would continue on just like I wrote. And Jay and Proctor will still win.

Okay, this is the part I MOST object to in the Shanzar/Stark battle. Stark is very powerful in Astral form, able to take on Dormammu even without his armor for a short time. Meanwhile, Shanzar was given trouble by Bruce Banner's mind of all people. And, the Eye of Agamotto has the ability to work for its owner even in Astral form, making Stark that much more formidable, mentally. Oh, and let us not forget that, while they are battling astrally, Stark can cause his armor to grab Shanzar's body and teleport way with it, like he did to Dormammu, stranding him without a body.

So, aside from the fact that Cable is much more likely to set up matches the way I wrote them, Shanzar tryng to possess Stark would be his last mistake.

Shanzar isn't trying to possess Stark to take over his body (although, if he does, that's a huge advantage). All Shanzar has to do is fight Stark inside his body for a short time as they fight on the Astral Plane. Shanzar's body is so dense that it will crush Tony's human body. So, after Shanzar gives up, or is forced out, Tony is already dead (or, at least in bad shape and vulnerable), his body crushed inside his armor.

 

[Khellendros]

Cable and Talisman are a tough pair. But Shanzar can call forth a variety of demons to attack Talisman, forcing her attention away from the fight. This would leave Cable vulnerable to magical attack.

Nah, Spirits and Demons are Talisman's bread and butter, man. They're what she was created to control and banish, if need be. That's like throwing ice cubes at the Human Torch. And, again, what kind of magical attack can Shanzar bring about? Possession? Pfft, good luck. Bruce Banner kept Shanzar busy when he took over the Hulk, making him easier to fight. Cable's mind would crush Shanzar's.

Exodus could also use the distraction to teleport away and help Exodus against Stark (who, admittedly, would be having a tough time against such a powerful version of Iron Man). And even if Cable and Talisman join that fight, it will play out pretty much like I already said. Talisman is a tough wild card, but her being in the uber fight leaves Midnighter and Death vulnerable.

Nah, see, Stark Cable and Talisman combining forces would just make your guys' defeat that much more certain, which is what would happen if Shanzar decided to gang up on Stark.

As for the regs, the Ebony Blade can't cut through adamantium, but it can cut through everything else. This includes Logan forcefield, armor, and flesh. Infact, the Blade could absorb all the energy of his forcefield (and cloak) as well as the flame of his sword. And to find Logan, all Proctor would have to do is blast the area with energy, teleporting in Logan's cloak showed up. And since the Blade makes Proctor immortal, neither character will be able to kill the other. It's going to be an impressive fight.

Logan's sword and armor are perfectly capable of defending him against energy attacks as well. And, teleporting into Logan's cloak? Again, he'd have to know where he was, first. Anyways, Proctor may be immortal, but Death definitely has the better healing factor, meaning it's much more likely he'll be the one to cripple his opponent for the remainder of the fight.

Then there's still Jay and Fate. Wind spirits would be just an annoyance for Jay. He could outrun them (a Flash can do more than thousands of miles a second) or just blow them away with vortexes from his hands. And, all the while he's running, he can attack Midnighter and Logan. And Fate doesn't even have an opponent at this point, so he could use his arm to help either Jay or Logan. Not having Talisman in the fight leaves your regs very vulnerable.

Bwahahaha, blow away Wind Spirits with... wind? Yeah, good luck with that. Anyways, they don't have tob e more than an annoyance, because to a guy as fast as him, an enemy who can fill his path with debris is a definite hindrance. I'm aware that Talisman joining the Uber fight leave my regs vulnerable, but they are excellent regs, and she did leave provisions in place to keep the power scale tipping too far away from them.

I could even mix this up and have Jay attack Logan and Proctor go after Midnighter. Proctor/Midnighter would be another great fight. And Jay could quickly find Death by just running around phased. The phasing would protect him from attack. If Jay can phase through Adamantium, he's going to really hurt Logan. If not, he'll still find him when he runs into him and be able to keep him busy.

Oh yes, send the Speedster after the invisible guy who can take hits from the Hulk and blades that could allow him to casually dismember Jay. Excellent idea. And phasing isn't guaranteed to work, at all. First, because I doubt he could pass through adamantium, and second because Death's sword allowed him to fire an energy discharge that severely hurt Kitty Pryde.

 

[Khellendros]

If it's just the ubers fighting each other, mage-mage and telepath-telepath is the only chance either team has. Otherwise the telepaths are going to have a hard time against the mages, and then it will be a mage-mage battle.

Umm, no, that's not the only chance MY team would have. My mage is still very powerful in astral form, and has the Eye of Agamotto to give him further protection and beef up his mental arsenal.

Using Talisman as a wildcard does change the odds in your team's favor, but it leaves your regs very vulnerable. And Jay and Proctor can give your ubers a run for their money. And Fate can be an especially painful thorn in Stark's side with help from the others.

Jay, no, he couldn't. Cable fought a guy who turned into pure light, and thus could and DID move at the speed of light, and he beat him straight up. Proctor might be trouble, but my regs, even if they DO go down, will take yours down with them, if not Jay as well.

Talisman didn't strike me as someone who'd want to seriously hurt or kill, which is what swallowing up someone in the ground would do. She could also end up hurting/taking out Logan if she did so (he could get swallowed up too).

Just dropping a guy to the bottom of a gorge, when his description says hes got super strength and higher durability, and the other option is letting him stab her? No, I don't think she'd have TOO much trouble with that. And, as for Logan, she could choose to teleport him back out, and sh would KNOW he could survive the fall.

Trying to freeze Jared will more than likely just wear him out and keep him from putting up a fight (as well as avoid hurting Logan who'd be protected by his forcefield).

But it's a tactic that leave her vulnerable to thrown weapons, which he has several of, and she has no guarantee that he wouldn't be highly resistant to freezing.

I wasn't sure about Death's personality because I thought he was able to resist/fight against the brainwashing. But even if he killed Jared, Logan and Talisman would still have to fight Jay and Proctor (who should be able to take care of Midnighter).

He did fight against his programming, when Apocalypse made the mistake of sending him after his friends and family in the X-men. When he was taking down the Hulkbuster base, and tracking down Bastion, he didn't fight it at all. Luckily, he's never had any warm, fuzzy feelings for anyone on your team.

Jay can take down Talisman before she realizes what's hapening. And a Proctor/Death battle would continue on just like I wrote. And Jay and Proctor will still win.

Jay only takes down Talisman if A: he can get to her in the air and B: Cable LETS him. He doesn't even have to attack Jay, just draw Talisman into his TK shield.

Shanzar isn't trying to possess Stark to take over his body (although, if he does, that's a huge advantage). All Shanzar has to do is fight Stark inside his body for a short time as they fight on the Astral Plane. Shanzar's body is so dense that it will crush Tony's human body. So, after Shanzar gives up, or is forced out, Tony is already dead (or, at least in bad shape and vulnerable), his body crushed inside his armor.

Except he'd first have to not only get through Stark's defenses, but also Cable and Talisman. Seriously, I have three tiers of protection against the possession tactic. That **** ain't goin' down.