DTL Season 5-Week 7 (Set 4)

Team Alpha Wolf Squadron vs. The Immortals: To me this comes down to whose matchups I accept. The Immortals win on Ahura's matchups, but TAWS wins on Harlekin's matchups. I buy Harlekin's more than Ahura's, so I vote for TAWS.
 
Okay, here's the scans:

First, Lansky comes out of nowhere while Cable is breaking down and reassembling a giant machine , and says his thoughts have been converted to pure light:


Cable gets his bearings, wraps Lansky in metal and teleports him to the moon. Note the scientist saying it would take Lansky 1.231 seconds to return, which is how long it takes light to get from the Moon to the Earth:



This is just a shot of the multiple-stories-tall machine Cable has been telekinetically fiddling with while fighting Lansky, and it has Cable saying Lansky is getting there three-tenths of a second faster than expected:


Cable gets a shield up in time(note he's now apparently adjusted to Lansky's pure-light thoughts, giving the telepathic communique) and holds Lightmaster off, presumably while he finishes assembling the giant machine. Then, he uses a human-sized bundle of light to do his bidding:



This is a decent showing, I think, because not only is Cable breaking down and reassembling the giant machine, Lansky actually suceeded in injuring him. Now, even before he got the infusions of blood that gave him a copy of Deadpool's healing factor, he was using his own TK powers to reassemble his body after being shot hundreds of times, including in the head, in Soldier X. But still, having a giant laser blast a hole in your chest has to hurt like a bastard.
 
Team Alpha Wolf Squadron vs. The Immortals - A tough one this...both good write ups and both debated very well...but going off combination of battle ground knowledge/use and line ups as well i had to vote Ahura...

on a side note i watched shrek the Third for the first time the other day and realised where Harl got his team name from....
 
Since when do the X-Men have general psi-blocking tech? They didn't use it when they've gone up against Shadow King, White Queen, Exodus, Apocalypse, Cassandra Nova, and numerous other telepathic opponents. Beast finding a way to mess up Phoenix one time doesn't prove they can stop any telepathic opponent, and all those examples suggest just the opposite.

Magneto's helmet isn't lying around the X-Mansion (not that you said it was), so that's only marginally relevant. And Magneto creating psi-blocking doesn't prove it's easy to do -- he's a genius who's created whole high-tech bases seemingly from scratch. Joseph, the Magneto clone, created a way to suppress Rogue's personality absorption, which Xavier couldn't do after years of study. And as Ahura pointed out he probably didn't make psi-blockers in a day anyway. (Plus, Magneto's psi-resistance has also been attributed to everything from force of will to latent telepathy.)

Anyway, I just don't like the idea of assuming someone can whip up a way to largely neutralize their opponent's main power just because they're smart and invent stuff. We were too permissive with the psi-blockers in previous seasons. It'd be different if your guys had actually built anti-telepathy tech in less than a day before, or if the X-Men really did use anti-telepathy tech as part of their standard aresenal. (They do have a telepathy-proof room -- I used it in my writeup, in fact -- but there's no reason to think it could be converted to something someone could carry around with them, especially in only 24 hours time.)

That said -- I agree that Flash could get a bunch of attacks in before the telepaths could think the thoughts to stop him -- he's that fast, and they only think at the speed of thought. But I'm not sure he could take them down before they thought the thoughts they'd need to stop him. Cable, probably, if he can phase through his telekinetic shields. (Assuming Cable isn't telepathically levitating a mile above the battlefield where Flash can't find him or get to him, and attacking Flash telepathically from there -- which I think he could do.) But can Flash really take down the totally indestructible Juggernaut before he can think one thought? It'd only take one thought for Xavier to knock him out with a mind blast -- at least if I don't buy the psi-blocking tech.

I also question whether Flash can freeze the Juggernaut if Juggernaut is already charging forward at the start of the battle (which would be a sensible thing to do if he knows about Flash's speed draining). Juggernaut has an infinite momentum power where once he's moving he can't be stopped. Even Thor's God-Blast couldn't exactly stop him, just caused the earth to give way beneath him. Not that being able to charge forward in a straight line matters much. I just thought I'd mention it.

Regular/Medium battles I could see going either way -- both sides had some good arguments.

Short version: I don't buy the psi-blockers, and without them Juggernaut needs one attack to beat Flash. While I agree Flash gets in a lot of attacks before Juggernaut gets in one, I'm skeptical that he could take him down before Juggernaut gets in the one attack. I see that as the key battle.

So I vote the Immortals. Good writeup and debate by both sides, though.
 
The Immortals


Very tough decision. I really like Harl's idea to take Xavier out of the fight until Cable is dealt with. But, as good as Panther and Steel are, I'm not totally convinced they could come up with psi-blockers in time. They might be able to, but I'd like to see evidence. Also, could the Panther detect a cloaked Death?
 
Also, could the Panther detect a cloaked Death?
An X-team consisting of Cable (not uber, but still having mid-level use of his powers), Jean Grey, Nate Grey and the Skrull Wolverine (who still had at least near-Wolverine-level senses) had no CLUE he was there until he dropped cloak and attacked, except a vague sense of foreboding. The only chance they would have is to be able to react in that instant between when he drops cloak and attacks, as was his modus operandi. Also, let's just note that Iron Fist was able to shred Panther's vibranium suit by attacking it's seams, so a guy with razor sharp adamantium claws and a sword that can pierce the Hulk's hide should be able to do the same.
 
Harlekin.

I like the overall versatility and adaptability of his team in this particular match.
 
Voting is now over.
Final Results


The Immortals 3
Team Alpha Wolf Squadron 2
 
Well this was almost a surprising result given Harlekin debated the hell out of it. Good job, Khell and best of luck next time Harl, against everyone else ;)
 

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