DTL Season 5-Week 9 (Set 3)

[Nightwing]

Heroes of the New Age (Owner: Nightwing)

Juggernaut (MU)
Darkseid (DU)
Turtle (DM)
The Atom (DR)
Batman (DR)

Vs.

The Authorititans (Owner: Aristotle)

Flash (Bart Allen) (DU)
Infinity-Man (DU)
Aztek (DM)
Anarky (DR)
Midnighter (DR)

Location – Bludhaven

Battles

Ok…my team beats Ari’s hands down ‘cos I said so….. ha only kidding…here’s how I think things will go down….(this is rushed as I’ve only just got my computer back)



















The Atom and Turtle vs. Flash (Bart Allen)

This is a bit of a different strategy for taking down Flash…granted it was expected Turtles speed stealing would be used but not straight away.

Firstly Flash would whip around Bludhaven as he does scoping out the area. Unbeknownst to him he actually picked up Atom along the way…and no, Atom didn’t just jump on, he instead used Flash’s speed against him by getting caught in his slip stream. Using this he then latches onto Flash and makes his way inside his body and begins an assault on Flash’s leg muscles. Flash gets a cramp slowing him down as it is an unexpected attack. Turtle will then put a wall of speed stealing up which Flash hits. Turtle will then proceed to allow certain parts of his body to move and others not to tearing his muscles and bones inside. Atom will add to this injury by moving to his spine and growing causing paralysis from the waist down thus taking Flash out.

Turtle, Atom and Batman vs. Midnighter

Batman will confront Midnighter and toy with him as best he can. Midnighter knows Batman’s moves as they are about to happen and has the added advantage of being well versed in many forms of martial arts, equal to match Batman’s skills.

Batman throws a wave of batarangs one of which sits Atom.

Midnighter – ‘A predictable attack Batman. I am well aware Atom was on that batarang and that he is planning to take my nervous system from the inside. What you fail to realise is my immune system will work faster than he can and poison him with the toxins in my white blood cells.’

This does in fact take Ray out but not before he locates the neural chips inside his body that control the signals to and from his limbs and brain that give him the fore sight in battle. Once these have been located and Ray has got message to Turtle via comm link Turtle shuts the signals and devices down with his speed reduction. This puts both Batman and Midnighter on a par. Batman with his wealth of experience and his gadgets and belt manages to pull a victory out of this (with a little help from Turtle slowing Midnighter’s limbs of course) unfortunately Ray has fallen.

Batman vs. Anarky

As far as battles of the gadgets go this battle would go to Anarky however this battle isn’t decided purely on that as Batman has his fighting skill to aid him. After having many a run in with Anarky he knows what to expect. Anarky does have a few tricks up his sleeve for instance a teleportation device and access to a boom tube. Anarky knows hand to hand he can’t beat Batman as he had to have the aid of a lynch mob of homeless to aid him in previous battles, no instead he is going to opt for the out of battle option.

Batman expects an all out hand to hand fight and is somewhat surprised by the equipment Anarky possesses. Needless to say Batman soon catches on to the plan of Lonnie once the boom tube has been activated. Batman has to use his wits and skills to best of his ability as Anarky ports around the area swinging and kicking trying to catch Batman off guard. Batman has a slight advantage against Anarky but after his battle with Midnighter he is feeling the strain. Anarky senses this and deploys his attack. He opens the boom tube and lunges for Batman. When interlocked with each other Batman sees a simple resolution to the battle and pulls himself and Anarky into the boom tube taking them both out of the fight.

Darkseid vs. Infinity Man

The two brothers confront and the battle begins with an exchange of energy blasts. Neither has the upper hand here and so they proceed to assault one another with physical blows…this continues for some time and ill come back to it soon.

Turtle and Juggernaut vs. Aztek

Aztek has a few advantages over Juggernaut however, with Juggernaut being indestructible and unstoppable, he poses little threat.

Will Aztek can zoom around Juggernaut and try to catch him in a vortex in his invisible form it wont take long for Juggernaut to put an end to this. He slams his foot into the ground causing a tremor to knock Aztek to the ground. Still invisible Aztek then tries his hand at energy projection and fires a barrage of attacks at Juggernaut. Seeing the direction these come from he quickly hones in on Aztek and begins his unstoppable charge. Aztek quickly tries to run but finds himself caught in the same speed trap that Flash ran into. Juggernaut still heading his way slams into Aztek, just as the speed trap is lowered. Aztek is sent sailing through the air and slams into a wall. Seeing the dent in the bricks and the dust formation as Aztek lands, Cain is able to determine his location.

Running towards him he grabs hold of the invisible attacker and, going off the information provided by Batman on the JLA, he reaches and grabs the helmet from Aztek’s head. Aztek comes visible and Marko tosses him away amidst the rubble like a rag doll, knocking him unconscious.

Juggernaut, Turtle and Darkseid vs. Infinity Man

Turtle tries his hand at freezing Infinity Man’s speed only to feel the wrath of Darkseid’s Omega Beams.

Darkseid – ‘None shall interfere with Darkseid’s mission’

Juggernaut also has his two cents, again Darkseid uses his Omega Beams, but to little affect. Juggernaut begins to assist in the assault on Drax with both taking turns to hammer Infinity Man across the city. Drax uses his anti-gravity ability to launch Juggernaut away so he can focus on his brother.

Darkseid and Infinity Man begin their battle again. This time Darkseid uses his simple yet effective attack of trying to drop in a boom tube to trap Infinity Man.

Juggernaut having picked himself up has begun to charge to the Gods location and arrives to see both fighting in front of the boom tube. Still on his rampage he charges them both and hits them with enough force to level a city. The force knocks both into the boom tube to continue their feud on Apokolips.

Juggernaut is the last to stand for HOTNA and thus they are the champions.

 

[Aristotle]

First: Why do the Heroes of the New Age work together when two of them have clear allies on the other team, and clear enemies on their team?

Second: Defend your matchups. Why is Aztek going after Juggernaut, rather than hitting Turtle from range? Why is Flash not going after Juggernaut, who he could find in a microsecond?

To begin with HOTNA realize they have an instant advantage – Juggernaut. Other than the info provided by my details, the Authorititans aren’t going to know him and therefore won’t know what to expect.

Non-factor. All my team needs to know, they know.

and no, Atom didn’t just jump on, he instead used Flash’s speed against him by getting caught in his slip stream.

Explain that one. Flash's slipstream won't be moving faster than Flash. How exactly does Atom move fast enough to catch up with Flash, by riding Flash's slipstream?

Also, how the heck does he react fast enough?

Using this he then latches onto Flash and makes his way inside his body and begins an assault on Flash’s leg muscles.

Flash's costume is made of pure Speedforce. How does Atom cut through that?

Flash gets a cramp slowing him down as it is an unexpected attack. Turtle will then put a wall of speed stealing up which Flash hits.

What, Flash isn't looking out for him? Flash moves far faster. He's going to have enough time to see Turtle coming and get out of the area. Furthermore, Flash has the Speed Force internalized, so he can just keep adding speed to himself.

This does in fact take Ray out but not before he locates the neural chips inside his body that control the signals to and from his limbs and brain that give him the fore sight in battle.

Not a problem. As I note in my writeup, Midnighter's gone without his implants, recently, and he did fine. He half-joked that he wouldn't mind losing them permanently. Hell, he was powered-down substantially and lost his foresight in a recent Midnighter solo issue, and still took down a building full of security personnel, including some Avengers analogs.

This puts both Batman and Midnighter on a par.

No, it doesn't. I'm a huge Batfan, but it's obvious from the evidence that Midnighter is still even better than Batman, without his implants. Two examples, previously mentioned, demonstrate that.

 

[XFanTim]

So now it's just me and Gog holding things up, huh? I promise I'll post what I have of my writeup tomorrow morning -- with the time crunch I'm under the ending may just be summarized in bullet points, but it'll be enough to give you the idea. I'd do it now, but I'm feeling freakin' exhausted, so I've got to get myself some sleep first.

 

[Nightwing]

First: Why do the Heroes of the New Age work together when two of them have clear allies on the other team, and clear enemies on their team?

Turtle would much prefer to work with others to take out Flash over taking out his own team.

Second: Defend your matchups. Why is Aztek going after Juggernaut, rather than hitting Turtle from range? Why is Flash not going after Juggernaut, who he could find in a microsecond?

Aztek wouldnt be able to hit Turtle from a distant as his blasts would hit the speed stealing and be in effective. Aztek would go after Juggernaut as there isnt anyone else left to attack. Flash may go for Juggernaut but as he was zipping around he was taken out before he could do anything.

Explain that one. Flash's slipstream won't be moving faster than Flash. How exactly does Atom move fast enough to catch up with Flash, by riding Flash's slipstream?

Atom only needs to be the size of a particle to be picked up, once he stops then Atom will drift towards Flash.

Also, how the heck does he react fast enough?

he doesnt have to react,he knows flash can cover a large area within seconds and so just waits to be caught by the slipstream

Flash's costume is made of pure Speedforce. How does Atom cut through that?

Flash's mouth and eyes and nostrils are exposed...end of the day Flash still needs to breath and see.

What, Flash isn't looking out for him? Flash moves far faster. He's going to have enough time to see Turtle coming and get out of the area. Furthermore, Flash has the Speed Force internalized, so he can just keep adding speed to himself.

Turtle can freeze any area he wants Flash could try to avoid but he would get caught before he knows it.

Not a problem. As I note in my writeup, Midnighter's gone without his implants, recently, and he did fine. He half-joked that he wouldn't mind losing them permanently. Hell, he was powered-down substantially and lost his foresight in a recent Midnighter solo issue, and still took down a building full of security personnel, including some Avengers analogs.

I never said he would automatically lose but the removal of the implants removes that ability.

No, it doesn't. I'm a huge Batfan, but it's obvious from the evidence that Midnighter is still even better than Batman, without his implants. Two examples, previously mentioned, demonstrate that.

and if you read mine i stated that Batman had the advantage cos Turtle kept freezing Midnighters limbs to give Bats the advantage.

 

[Nightwing]

I doubt Flash could punch Juggernaut into unconsciousness no matter how many times he does it. Juggernaut at one point had the skin ripped off his bones and still walked round in skeletal form (granted it was a what if but it was still the same incarnation as my character)

Also Flash cant avoid a force he cant see.Turtles speed Stealing happens whether Flash likes it or not.

Also Batman and Atom (from one of your many scenarios) would not go against their own team....yes they maybe pitted with villains but end of the day the higher calling (Ie the owners) demand from their team to work together to win and they are well aware theyre in a competition designed for them to strive to win.no matter the cost or who they have to work with.

Again as i mentioned in my other responses Aztek couldnt hit Turtle with plasma blasts or any type of energy as the speed would be stolen from the blasts or Turtle could freeze everything and move as if he were moving at great speed.

 

[Harlekin]

EDIT: Never mind. I was wrong.

 

[XFanTim]

Something I've noted before: the skeleton thing happened while severely powered up during the Eight Day event.

Yeah, but even Juggernaut at his classic power level has ridiculous feats of durability. Like withstanding a shot of Thor's godforce. I believe Juggernaut was even still advancing forward into Thor's attack, until the ground gave way beneath his feet.

Except for a few isolated low showings, he was basically completely immune to physical damage.

 

[Ahura Mazda]

I do not buy Juggernaut being punched out by the flash. However, he could get frozen in time so I see it as more of a stalemate.

I do prefer Ari's writeup eventhough I think he underwrote the Juggernaut.

I am going with Ari on this one but really it was based on the flip of a coin. Sorry

The Deadly Dozen - lack of opposition

 

[Harlekin]

Yeah, but even Juggernaut at his classic power level has ridiculous feats of durability. Like withstanding a shot of Thor's godforce. I believe Juggernaut was even still advancing forward into Thor's attack, until the ground gave way beneath his feet.

Except for a few isolated low showings, he was basically completely immune to physical damage.

Yeah, I've noted since that I was wrong. The skeleton thing was not during the Eight Day crossover. He was suped up as I recall, but whatever. Can't remember the circumstances.

 

[XFanTim]

Yeah, I've noted since that I was wrong. The skeleton thing was not during the Eight Day crossover. He was suped up as I recall, but whatever. Can't remember the circumstances.

Apparently it's from a fight with D'Spayre in a Juggernaut One-Shot. Summarizes of this and others of Juggernaut's notable battles can be found here.

The summary makes it sound like D'Spayre had actually drained a bunch of Juggernaut's power (which explains why he was powerful enough to reduce Juggernaut to a skeleton in the first place).

 

[XFanTim]

OK, I've finished posting my writeup. It's a bit rushed in places and I didn't proofread it or anything, so I apologize if parts are a bit muddled. But hopefully it's good enough.

 

[XFanTim]

Really close match between Nigthwing and Aristotle.

I don't accept the heroes refusing to fight or turning on their team. We've generally always assumed that everyone is given whatever incentives are necessary to insure they participate in the fights and do their best to win. That said, heroes and villains probably won't have the best teamwork, if only because the tactics the villains favor (killing the opposition as quickly as possible) won't sit well with the heroes. Anyway, Ari offered plenty of alternatives, so I'll just ignore that part.

My biggest objection to Aristotle's writeup is probably the Flash vs. Juggernaut fight. I just don't think Flash can put Juggernaut down, whether with one punch or 100. Regarding the infinite mass punch, I'd say Juggernauts magical power source trumps the theory of relativity. Cytorrak > Einstein

That said, Flash could probably at least stalemate Juggernaut by stealing his speed. Juggernaut has some sort of magical momentum where you can't totally stop his forward motion, but if Flash can prevent him from changing directions that's probably good enough. Let Juggernaut keep charging forward right out of the city if he wants to.

Of course, this assumes Flash doesn't get taken out by Nightwing's team first. But I agree with Aristotle that Flash could probably dictate the matchups with his superspeed, as long as he's careful not to get too close to the turtle.

My biggest objection to Nightwing's writeup is that his regs seemed to be in too many places at once. Turtle and the Atom are taking out Flash, and yet they're helping Batman beat Midnighter. Batman is beating Midnighter, and yet he's beating Anarky. It's almost like you have Ari's characters each waiting their turn until your team is ready to deal with them. Possibly this is a product of the whole thing being a bit rushed due to your computer issues. But anyway, I find Ari's reg-level battles a bit more plausible.

So anyway, I have Ari's team winning the lower-level fights, Juggernaut and the Flash probably stalemating, and Infinity Man and Darkseid probably stalemating as well. That gives the overall edge to Ari's team, although I'm not sure what help his regs will be against Darkseid. But I suppose that even providing a small distraction might be enough to give Infinity Man the win, and after that Ari's team could probably find some way to remove Juggernaut from the battlefield.

So I'll vote for the Authorititans in a very close battle.

 

[Aristotle]

Turtle would much prefer to work with others to take out Flash over taking out his own team.

Wasn't talking about Turtle.

Aztek wouldnt be able to hit Turtle from a distant as his blasts would hit the speed stealing and be in effective.

If Aztek fires from behind, from range, Turtle won't see them, so even if they hit the passive speed steal, they'll still hit home.

Aztek would go after Juggernaut as there isnt anyone else left to attack.

Turtle.

Flash may go for Juggernaut but as he was zipping around he was taken out before he could do anything.

You never justified that at all.

Atom only needs to be the size of a particle to be picked up, once he stops then Atom will drift towards Flash.

And why is Flash stopping? And what if he stops and starts again too quick for Atom to catch up, leaving Atom on the breeze?

he doesnt have to react,he knows flash can cover a large area within seconds and so just waits to be caught by the slipstream

And how do we know Flash will just happen to run past Atom? Seems like you're counting on a bit of luck for this one.

Turtle can freeze any area he wants Flash could try to avoid but he would get caught before he knows it.

But Flash moves fast enough that he can see Turtle before Turtle can react and speed-steal. Furthermore, Flash is the Speed Force, so he GOVERNS all speed. You think he's going to be overtaken by some schmuck called the Turtle?

I never said he would automatically lose but the removal of the implants removes that ability.

Point is, it's not enough of a factor for him to lose to Batman.

and if you read mine i stated that Batman had the advantage cos Turtle kept freezing Midnighters limbs to give Bats the advantage.

That's only if you buy that Turtle is apparently being completely ignored by Aztek, which is ludicrous, and Anarky, which is just as ludicrous. Why are we giving Turtle a free pass?

 

[Aristotle]

I doubt Flash could punch Juggernaut into unconsciousness no matter how many times he does it. Juggernaut at one point had the skin ripped off his bones and still walked round in skeletal form (granted it was a what if but it was still the same incarnation as my character)

Juggernaut got punched out by Onslaught. Not comparing Flash to Onslaught, just saying that it can be done, and thousands of infinite mass punches seems like that would do the trick.

Also Flash cant avoid a force he cant see.Turtles speed Stealing happens whether Flash likes it or not.

But he can see Turtle from a long way off, and avoid him.

Also Batman and Atom (from one of your many scenarios) would not go against their own team....yes they maybe pitted with villains but end of the day the higher calling (Ie the owners) demand from their team to work together to win and they are well aware theyre in a competition designed for them to strive to win.no matter the cost or who they have to work with.

Why is that a higher calling? The rules state that this tournament does not mean they work together well. At the bare minimum, they don't work together, and I frankly do not see how winning some tournament game to please their owner outweighs their heroism.

Again as i mentioned in my other responses Aztek couldnt hit Turtle with plasma blasts or any type of energy as the speed would be stolen from the blasts or Turtle could freeze everything and move as if he were moving at great speed.

That's only if he sees them. If they come from behind and from range, they hit him.

 

[Aristotle]

Also, I vote for Deadly Dozen.

 

[XFanTim]

Juggernaut got punched out by Onslaught. Not comparing Flash to Onslaught, just saying that it can be done, and thousands of infinite mass punches seems like that would do the trick.

Onslaught did a lot of things that made no sense. He depowered the Juggernaut by pulling Cytorrak's crystal out of his chest, which made no sense not only because it ignores Juggernaut's invulverability, but because the damn crystal wasn't in his chest to begin with. He got his powers from touching the crystal, not absorbing it. In a previous story he'd even thrown it into space, so that no one else could ever touch the crystal and get his powers.

Anyway, I think that the Onslaught storyline was also roughly the start of Juggernaut's current wussification. Classic Juggernaut is a lot more of a badass. Although I still think Flash could at least stalemate him with speed-stealing.

 

[Aristotle]

Fair enough.

 

[Nightwing]

I think people are misunderstanding the point of Turtles power...he froze a city.Whether Flash is stood next to him or other end of Bludhaven, Turtles ability will stop him. He is a black hole for speed. The more Flash pumps in the more he slows down. Turtle can either focus on a particular spot and mess with the speed or he can have a wall surrounding him or even make a dome...anything...Flash cant avoid what he cant see.Same for Aztek's energy blasts.They hit the wall of speed stealing there is no momentum to keep pushing them on therefore they stop.

 

[Dark Gog]

Prep



Not everyone is happy at the prospect of joining minds with Ares:

-"Can we really trust him with our thoughts?"

-"I don't, I trust you. You could end the link at any time by switiching to a different power-set. And we'd be on a battlefield, I doubt he'd have much time to sabotage his own side."

Zemo moves closer, and takes Vixen's hands in his.

-"And we need him, Mari. Even Lightray might have difficulty penetrating through our enemies' illusions, and Ares has more... shelf-life, shall we say?

You can take heart, though. A god's word is his bond. And you need one, when you plan to keep on living for a few more thousand years."

-"So you're saying you do trust him?" she asks. Skepticism coats her every word.

"Of-course not. I'm saying he would not betray us until he has something more to gain."


That was an hour before zero-hour, but let's take a moment to look at what had gone before:


My team is using the Batgirl Cave. Robin had one too, but objective comprasion will reveal Bruce clearly loved her more. It's also connected to the local subway, an underground secret railway station/smuggler tunnels, and made-to-order for a functional ******, so those are all pluses. I assume Tim's probably using Nightwing's or Drake's as a base, so that shouldn't be a problem.

First on the agenda would be clearing the city of radiation. As Lightray points-out, it's just a wonder no-one else had done so. Too bad the notion's overruled for the moment, although they do clear some strategic parts.

There's a lot a god of war can learn just looking at a battle-field, and a future one at that. Knowledge's vital in this match in general, where so many geniuses are fighting. However, not only do my team have the advantage of precience, but while both Lightray and Ares had the means and opportunity to learn a lot about the Marvel universe, Magneto, Darkchylde and The Magus are all catching-up on several years' worth of events, while Loki's from a no longer valid timelive. My team are also more oriented specifically towards battle tactics in general and small team maneuvers in general.

Reed should be able to hide both he and Vixen from Magneto's senses. Doom has against a more powerful Magnus, albeit one who was paying less attention. In-fact Doom had rigged his force-field to block Magneto's powers behind it at the flick of a switch before he ever met him, and I do believe Reed's actually beaten him using a device that turned his own power on him in the past, but we'll just say he cloaks them both for now.

There're a lot of variables in this match. I don't, for instance, know much about Deadman beyond reading some older appearances and understanding that he has failed to possess folk before. (The League of Assassins' Sensei, at the least, if no-one else.) Ares may be able to offer some protection to my team here; he's pulled gods out of mortal hosts before, and appealing to Olympians can have effect without even their knowledge of the fact. (How much effect, of-course, is easily disputed.) Meanwhile, Vixen's talons carry an enchantment of some sort, and Lightray's awareness and effectiveness against him seems a bit of a grey area. The only two people he can possess to begin with are taking their time to make an appearance. (Unless he can possess Darkchylde should she lose consciousness, which could make for an interesting turn.)


Match-ups coming soon.

 

[Dark Gog]

Fights:


There's plenty of potential dialogue here. Lots and lots of dialogue. Some of it isn't even that bad. But in the interest of time, I'll only go there where it matters.

Such as when Zemo goads Magneto into lashing-out, simultaneously pressing all of Erik's buttons as a Holocaust-survivor and a Mutant Supremacist by mere virtue of existing, thus allowing Zemo to act against him.

The first words he speaks, however, may well be "Quibbit", as Loki gloats near-by, which suddenly turns very far away. He'll be back, of-course, but it will still take him a few seconds.

"Sensible Barons should not go turning into toads. There may not be many princes ready to charge to their defense, and I've wasted a very valuable trick to distract the Magus for this long."

Loki returns as Ares turns back his attention on The Magus, and is immediately engaged again by Zemo. "Gravity again, my lord? I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I have already slipped these surly bonds."

"That is fine", says Zemo, as portals open around Loki, "as you are not my target." It takes the very merest fraction of a second for every single weapon formerly in Ares' armory that does not go "Bang" to hit the rather tiny giant. In a moment they are gone again, along with Loki.

*****


Ares vs. The Magus can take a lot of time, but a lot of it may be fairly repetitive. They hit, they blast, they telepot or phase battle mentally. I'll just say Ares starts-out twenty-odd feet tall, because being a god it may not effect his strength that much, but it still puts more force behind his blows, and minimizes any damage taken on a magic-rich battle-field. He doesn't start-out carrying any magic weapons, because if there's one thing that can be said about him it's that he learns from his mistakes, and Magneto or Loki could take advantage of it in a moment's notice to use against him.

Finally, Ares summons his Staff, and tears at the very life that sustains him. Possibly, this has a unique adverse effect on the Magus; we are treating it as fact that he is carrying the actual Soul Gem - the very Gem Warlock held, with similar skill at wielding it. Ordinarily, of-course, that would be a good thing. However, one effect it had on Adam is that while he carried it, it drained his own energies, and had to be counter-balanced.

Another very obvious problem with using a Soul Gem, is that it can be removed, and future Warlock had set it on his forhead so that he could fire energy blasts from it. Lightray is a lot faster than anyone else on either team, after-all.

Should neither of these options work for you for whatever reason, than assume once Ares produces the Staff, the Magus plunges a phased hand into his chest, and at great personal pain materializes it. As Ares' arms wrap around his own, he realizes too late to war god is determined on taking him with him. As the Magus is drawn towards him, Ares' final action is to plunge a summoned knife through Adam's heart.


The Rest



Lightray's first action was to find and overwhelm Wildchylde. The second does not go nearly as smoothly. His fight with Magneto is hard to follow, but it may be that he is slowly losing. He uses his speed to his advantage, and attempts to use Boom Tubes to penerate Magneto's shields, lights to overcome his senses, but the latter's full of tricks himself, and more powerful to boot.

It is with more than some relief that he regards Zemo's intervention, but just as one battle draws near its end that he becomes aware of another struggle elsewhere in the city.

"This body has possibilities!" Brand exclaims. Near-by, Vixen struggles to regain her feet for a moment, before succumbing to unconsciousness. Deadman's yet to notice Lightray, who considers quickly. Richards' wearing a containment suit. The area he took is still highly radioactive. That radiation is converted into a flash of heat, as the last of the Deadly Dozen is defeated.

 

[Dark Gog]

A few final comments:

-I have no idea how Loki's magic would really effect Zemo. My gut feeling would be neither total success nor failure. I was going to have him go after the Moonstones and failing, but decided we could all use the variation.

-I don't personally feel this version of Loki is much if at all beyond normal Dr. Strange, which in itself is no great is no great sleight, and a lot of what Strange so dangerous he lacks, while some of his own areas of expertise are restricted in this tournament.

-Ares probably distracted the Magus using a reflective surface to remove him. Perhaps that of his own armor. The Soul Gem has been far less effective against Thor than others, due to his divine nature. Ares is more personally powerful, and actually shares many of the Gem's powers.

-Mister Fantastic's been studying the Gems for the illuminati, and has had prior experience with them.


Edit: I've been debating whether to expand Zemo's description to include the manipulation of gravity, so I spotted Loki that knowledge. He might also have been familiar with some of their prior wielders.

 

[wiegeabo]

I'll vote later tonight, then close the polls (after checking that everyone's voted in all of them).

 

[XFanTim]

A few really brief comments on Gog's writeup:

I don't really doubt that Lightray could beat my regs if he gets by Magneto, and I don't really question that he could beat Magneto with Zemo's help. Without it, I'm not so sure. So I guess this hinges on the uber battles. Zemo needs to get by my ubers before he can afford to divert his attention to dealing with Magneto.

So let's look at Zemo vs. Loki. I felt like maybe Loki went down a bit too easily. If I understood right, you had Zemo portal in Ares weapons and then use gravity to accelerate them towards Loki. I wasn't quite sure what weapons you had in mind -- magical swords or something? That might take Loki out, if he couldn't block them with a forcefield. But Loki can take a lot of damage. Didn't he even survive decapitation at one point? (That might have been an amped up Loki, I'm not sure, but then again mine is amped up too.)

Anyway, more than that I just think that if Loki used his powers a bit more cleverly (illusions, etc.) he could get the drop on Zemo. And Loki is a master schemer, so I'd expect a top notch strategy from him (even though he doesn't know exactly what Zemo can do -- if anything, that's more reason for him to be cautious and avoid getting hit by surprise attacks.)

With Magus vs. Ares, like I said I think that'd be quite an even fight. In my writeup I tipped the scales by giving Magus the Soulsword (I know I said only Darkchylde can wield it, but I figured a way around that by having Magus steal her soul.)

Anyway, getting back to your writeup, the problem with the Soul Gem is it has a mind of its own. So Adam has to divert some energy to keep its personality from overwhelming his. Of course, Magus has been doing this for thousands of years, he scarcely has to think about it at this point. But even if Hades staff weakens his resistance to the gem (and I'm not sure it would, the staff's power seems pretty vaguely defined), it would probably just mean Hades ends up fighting Magus (possessed by Soul Gem), which I'm not sure is any better. If Lightray steals it, it would overwhelm Lightray and take over his mind -- and probably make him bring it back to Magus after consuming most of his spiritual energy. (I assume it would prefer to be with the substantially more powerful Magus.)

Also, Warlock has an enhanced connection to the Gem from having possessed it for so long. On at least some occasions he's effected it even when he wasn't touching it -- for instance, he loaned it to Thanos as part of their strategy in Infinity Crusade, and then when he wanted it back he just mentally summoned it back to him. The gem flew right off Thanos's forehead back to Warlock. So he probably could retrieve it without much trouble.

But I agree that Ares is probably at least somewhat resistant to the gem. But Magus will be able to use it against Ares teammates if he gets by him.

 

[Dark Gog]

One thing it seems I had completely neglected is to make it clear Vixen was tapping Freedom Beast's power, as she'd already done fighting next to him in an earlier round. (She does not require his proximity to do so, as he is a native DC resident, and demonstratedly within her scope to copy to begin with.)

I'll make a few comments soon regarding Tim's write-up, then probably work my way through any further comments.

 

[Dark Gog]

So Tim did have the Magus take the Soulsword after-all. This grates on me slightly, as I'm not entirely surprised, and so much of my original write-up revolved around Ares going : Yoink! while Zemo's going Bud-Wei-Ser. Of-course, it turns-out taking the sword is a little more complicated than Lightray whisking it away (I can't even figure-out if he can or cannot touch the thing), but I'm not sure it would be irresponsive to gravitational fields, and it makes Warlock even more dependant on the Soul Gem, which can be. And it can always be exploited to stab at Loki through a spacial rift by Zemo, who's not a bad multi-tasker himself.

Most crucially though, both these things (the Magus carrying the Soulsword and Magik failing to show-up) are things Zemo himself cannot help but notice, being absolute certainties, and affecting the battle from the very first.

If Ares can't be worked to find the odds against Adam, than most likely that just means they swap opponents. Ares vs. Loki is the match-up I was most confident about to begin with. I only avoided it due to the same uncertainty you noted with having Zemo fighting the Magus. But come-down-to-it Helmut has more instant kills at his disposal Adam's one, and a lot more ways of manipulating the field to his advantage, or dividing his opponents.


**** it, bullet-points:


-Reed is under no compulsion to keep anything he'd built on his own person. Lightray or anyone else would be perfectly free to carry such items themselves.

And even Boston Brand still has to locate his targets.

-Any seeming disrespect for Loki in my writeup is purely the result of condensing my thoughts. I did assume he'd use illusions, for which reason I had my team mind-linked with Ares. I intended something along the lines of Zemo seeming to blast one and shuffling it at the last moment at the real Loki through a portal, have him slip through Zemo's gravity-wells and turn him into a frog, at which point, my write-up resumes.

Also, while Loki can certainly take a lot of damage, I truly doubt he could survive being cut to ribbons by several dozen magical weapons causing wounds he might not be able to heal. Even if he does the match would be essentially over, and I saw no reason to go into the steps Zemo would take at that point.

He doesn't avoid this because AFAIK he doesn't actually use shields mostly, thinks he knows what's going-on, and isn't as powerful as Zemo anyway, who'd certainly pick his moment to launch an attack that should be over long before Loki can actually react.

-If it does come-down to working the odds (Zemo either taking his chances with the Magus or trying to eliminate Loki fast enough), then my team has the advantage due to all the factors mentioned earlier regarding their knowledge base and consequencely setting-up the field.

-I admit I liked the way you pulled-off the win, but is it really likely? By this stage in the competition, Reed, Ares, and Lightray would be heavily involved in making sure they cover all their bases with the Moonstones, and, well, the Magus finding his way back isn't really so unlikely. At which point he gets prep. It's one reason I avoided this tactic mostly. Also, Ares's already done it.