DTL Season 6-Week 3 (Set 1)

[DTL Commish]

The rules:
This is one of two threads containing matches.
These threads will be in use for 7 days. Days 1-4 (Oct 31-Nov 3) are strictly setup time for owners to post their battles, 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. Debating cannot begin until both owners post battles.

On Day 5 (Nov 4) I will post and tell everyone that voting may begin. Any votes cast before I open voting will not count. Look over the matchups and read the 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. (Note: The length of a writeup is at the discretion of 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 all matches or your vote will not count! The teams with the highest vote total at the end of the 7th day (Nov 6) will get a W while the other will get an L. (Equal votes will result in a tie.)

The battleground for this week is: Wundagore Mountain

The Deadly Dozen
Thundermind (DU) - Powers of the Buddhist siddhis
Merlin the Magician (DU) - Mage
Living Lightning (MM) - Superspeed, electrical manipulation
Captain Boomerang II (DR) - Superspeed, marksman
Liberty Belle II (DR) - Superspeed, superstrength

VS.

Heroes of the New Age
The Turtle (DU) - A Black Hole for Kinetic Energy
Captain Britain (w/Excalibur) (MU) - Superhuman Strength, Speed, Stamina, Durability, Reflexes, Senses, Flight, Immunity to telepathy. He also possesses enhanced perceptions that allow him to be aware of things others may miss (such as objects cloaked by spells of illusion), Wields Excalibur – Indestructible blade similar to Ebony Blade.
Psylocke (telekinesis) (MM) - Telekinesis, Psychic Katana, Invisibility, Immunity to telepathy and all forms of mental, magical, and physical alteration.
Batman (DR) - High intelligence,Skilled Marital Artist,Utility Belt
The Atom (Ray Palmer) (DR) - High Intelligence,Ability to shrink

_______________________________

The Spanish Inquisition
Superman Blue - Immense energy manipulation.
Spartan (Daemonite possessed) - Flight, superstrength, advanced sensors, energy projection, teleportation of self and others.
Engineer - Tech genius, uses nanotech to create any tech she desires.
Mother One - Cyborg with super strength and durability, technopathy, high tech weaponry
Prince of Orphans - Extremely skilled fighter who can take on a mist form at will.

VS.

Chaos & Order
Green Lantern (Kyle Rayner) (DU) - Wields a ring that creates hard light constructs limited only by imagination and willpower.
Exodus (MU) - Mutant with powerful psionic abilities.
Flash (Jay Garrick) (DM) - Super speed. Special abilities by tapping into the Speed Force.
Ambrose Chase (DR) - Localized selective physics distortion field.
Deadline (DR) - Super durability, reflexes, intangibility, weapons expert.

 

[Nightwing]

Prep-time Here

 

[Nightwing]

Ok really quick debate as I have been majorly busy

The key to my entire strategy is Turtle. Alot of people think once he freezes a mass area everyone will be affected...little do you realise he can also give back speed to what he chooses. All Turtle needs to do is hide and freeze concentrating on dramatically slowing the reaction speeds of all Deadly dozen. With their minds unable to process at a speed they can work at it doesnt take much for my team to take them out

Captain Britain vs Merlin

Merlin is a poweful mage who granted Cap his powers..however if he cant think fast enough to cast a spell he's just another old man. A swift punch and hes down for the count.


Psylocke vs Living Lightening

Psylocke is on an even speed level and as she is immune to any form of manipulation its just a case of a surprise invisible attack and landing a psi katana into Lightening spine rendering her paralized

Batman and Psylocke vs Boomerang and Liberty Belle

Another easy match up...with the Deadly Dozen unable to think fast enough to scratch themselves they are open to any combination of attacks without a chance of reacting to block. Both would fall.

Atom and Captain Britain vs. Thundermind

Cap B has gone up against Thor toe to toe whilst Thor fought back, a near moronic Thundermind wouldnt be a problem but to be sure Atom would jump inside Thundermind's godlike head and begin expanding as Cap begins an assault of abuse on his outer body. Eventually he would fall and HOTNA would be victorious

 

[wiegeabo]

Prep-Time here...

"We are so screwed."

Kyle: "Oh, come on DL, it's not that bad."

Chase: "We are at a severe technical disadvantage. Their team has significant experience, and several distinct advantages."

DL: "Screwed."

Kyle: "Technical disadvantage? What technology is out here? We're on a mountain."

Jay appears out of no where. "Maybe that citadel a few miles north of here."

Exodus: "I doubt any surviving technology remains there."

Kyle: ":Wait one second. How do you know that?"

Jay: "You've been here before. Sounds like we have at least one advantage."

Exodus: "Not much of advantage. Nothing useful should be left."

Jay: "Wait, wait, wait. Let's not get ahead of ourselves here." He notices Kyle looking at him. "Yeah, son. I get the joke. Anyway, I think we're making some assumptions. So, before we actually go to this citadel and check it out, why don't you tell us what happened there."

Exodus relates the entire adventure of when he and the Acolytes attacked the High Evolutionary's citadel, destroying it. "So, while the Evolutionary escaped, his technology shouldn't have."

Chase ponders this new intel. "We can't take that chance. We've got to explore that place. Make sure no tech survived. That will limit what two of our opponents can do against us."

Exodus: "And if any has?"

Jay thinks for a minute. "Well, if it has...I'm sure I can think of something. Although I could use some help." He looks at Deadline.

DL: "What?"

 

[wiegeabo]

Battle-Time

If the citadel is already destroyed from the last time exodus was there, then there's no tech for Engineer or Mother One to use and turn against Chaos & Order. And if the citadel is still standing, Jay knows that it's far more useful for their opponents then to his team. So, possibly with DL's help, all he has to do is setup a nice series of explosives using chemical rather than electronic triggers. (If the citadel still stands, the labs still stand, so this shouldn't be too hard for a speedster scientist like Jay. And I assume Deadline can help with any knowledge he may have of explosives and bomb making.) So, when the match starts, the citadel blows itself to hell, taking with it anything the other team may have found useful.


Kyle versus Superman isn't really much of a match. Superman never really had total control of his powers. And he's up against someone who manipulates light and energy with his willpower. And Kyle know about Superman Blue since they fought together. Kyle can absorb/redirect Superman's attacks, even Supes himself. Kyle's fought stronger, more experienced energy wielders before. Superman Blue won't be unstoppable. Kyle can drain his energy, weakening him to the point where he needs to turn back to Clark, making him easy to knock out. Or Kyle can pump him full of energy, forcing Supes to do the same thing.


Exodus is not an easy victory for Spartan because Exodus can also teleport. And he's so powerful that teleporting and maintaining a psionic shield will not be much of a problem. And if he gets the chance, he'll be able to attack Spartan as well. How would Spartan fair against be caught and crushed inside a tk field? And even if the fight is stalemating, Exodus will get help from Kyle.


Jay's fast enough to decide who his opponent will be and rip through or avoid anything Engineer throws at him. Hell, he could make massive vortexes with his arms and blow himself a superspeed path to the Engineer. (Think about what damage a tornado could do when accelerated to a significant fraction of lightspeed.) And even if she avoids him, Jay can just keep going, tearing through Engineers defenses until help arrives. Or, he could superspeed around, helping his team while leaving Engineer in the dust.


Ambrose and DL stick together, forcing Mother One and Prince to do the same. With his phasing ability, DL can avoid attacks from both Mother and Prince. Not willing to risk being trapped in one of Chase's fields, and know she can stand up to Deadline's attacks better, Mother One leaves Ambrose for Prince in the hope that, as a mist, Prince can avoid Chase's powers. And, if he stays hidden, he might be able to. But, if he attacks as a mist, even getting the drop on Ambrose, Jay would only need a second to see what's happening, run over, and scatter Prince with a vortex. Hell, he'd only need less than a second.

All the while, Mother One's attacks would be ineffective against Deadline. And he'd likely be having problem with her durability and self-repair abilities (I assume she has those). But he just need to play a waiting game. Once Ambrose can join in the fight, he can start using his fields on Mother One and turn the fight against her.


Back to the ubers. Kyle and Exodus should be able to team up and give Spartan a good fight while they wait for the others to get free. Once Exodus gets the mental signal from Ambrose, he can teleport next him, grab him, and either wait for Spartan to teleport them, or do the teleporting himself. The whole goal is to get Ambrose in range of Spartan. And once that happens, Spartan is essentailly nullified and fully vulnerable to Kyle and Exodus. And once Spartan is down, Kyle will be free to attack Engineer by hitting the area with an EMP (which would also take down Mother One if Exodus couldn't wait for that fight to end to grab Ambrose).


A very tough fight for sure, but not unwinnable. And Chaos & Order can walk away from this one.

 

[Khellendros]

Prep:

In a flash five beings of considerable power and skill, all of whom had now been tested in this grand tournament, appeared atop a mountain. The Prince of Orphans drew his cloak tighter to blunt the cutting, frigid winds, envying the fact that the rest either clothed themselves in liquid metal, or were seemingly not human enough to feel the cold. Surveying the landscape, they introduced themselves, and Engineer equipped the three she had not met before with radiotelepathy nannites (with a specialized versions for the completely nonorganic teammates). Setting out, they came upon the ruins of a tremendous complex.

Making their way inside, Engineer, Mother One and stripped the complex of any useful materials. With help from a handful of transports created by Engineer, the materials and team moved down to the village nearest the base of the mountain.

As the team moved to the virtual mindscape provided by the Engineer to train, a half-score of duplicate Engineers moved amongst the buildings under joint control of Engineer and Mother One, rebuilding the village to suit their needs.

By the time their prep time had dwindled to a few moments, each building was a small arsenal keyed to attack any unidentified person automatically, or as directed by either Engineer or Mother One.

 

[Khellendros]

Battle:

Superman and Spartan vs Exodus and Green Lantern

Long-range sensors and unfathomable senses flared to life, and an instant later their owners disappeared in twin flashes of light; one with a crack like Zeus's thunder, the other with a subtle hum.

Even as the other two were erecting their defenses and scanning for their opponents, the Kryptonian and android appeared before their respective opponents. Each was chosen for their ability to take their opponent out with the utmost ease.

A blue fist, crackling with lightning, slammed into telekinetic defenses. Although the impact itself was nothing to scoff at, the real threat became apparent as fire erupted behind Exodus' eyes. His shield fizzled out, and his synapses seemed to explode, as the power he had been drawing forward turned back on him, savagely and chaotically.

With a final desperate act, Exodus teleported himself away. Not far enough, unfortunately, and in another ear splitting crack, Superman was standing next to him yet again. A jolt, no more severe than a taser, lanced through Exodus. Already half-defeated, he sank blissfully into unconsciousness, his muscles still twitching.

Spartan, meanwhile, appeared in the air before Kyle. Ignoring the constructs that began forming around him, his eyes glowed and suddenly he was holding an emerald ring in one upturned palm. The constructs, along with his shield failed instantly, and Kyle plummeted toward earth. Still, even as he closed his fist over the ring, it wrenched itself free and shot like a laser to it's wielder. Feeling a twinge of urgency, he followed in a blink, appearing next to the falling human just as his fingers wrapped around the bauble.

Lashing out, he dealt a devastating backhanded blow to the shields he sensed had raised the instant contact was reestablished. The human broke the sound barrier as he violently finished his fall.

Spartan followed, hammering on the shield with a sort of casual brutality. He hit like Superman, but without any inclination towards mercy. Puncturing the most basic of Green Lantern defenses, the impact of his fist was significantly blunted, leaving the boy with a broken jaw and concussion, rather than a red stain on the snow where his head used to be.


Engineer vs Jay Garrick
Buildings erupted with gunfire, exploded and strafed Jay Garrick with lasers, as he made his best speed through the small village, looking for the shining woman in silver. Though a laser grazed his cheek, and he accidentally ran into a minute piece of shrapnel from an explosive which scored the back of his hand, timely phasing and sheer speed and skill meant the hindrances were simply that, and didn't pose a threat.

Speeding into what was apparently a village square, he ducked as the woman, obviously equipped with her own long range sensors, opened fire with half a dozen guns which seemed to have sprouted from her forearms. Circling the area twice at top speed, he noted there were no defenses to speeak of,a side from the formidable arsenal that was growing from her body. He cosnidered it a shame,t hat he would ahve to take such a pretty young thing out. She glowed all over, like she was reflecting the sunlight no amtter what angle you looked at her.

As she spun futilely after him, guns still firing, he lunged towards her. Molecules separated, as he prepared to reach right through the armor and yank the woman clean free. Still, as he crossed the last foot, the sense of separation grew. Molecules came further apart, as did their constituent atoms. He never even had time to scream, as the web of atom-sized knives shattered and tore against his own, tearing him to dust which washed over the Engineer.

Mother One vs Ambrose Chase
Ambrose, having been left at the edge of the village by the Flash, made his way swiftly through the village, though not as fast as his tin-hatted ally. Time slowed as he sprinted past, explosions turned into still-life art displays until he had moved clear. Laser beams lanced out, and then angled away at the last second, refracted by his personal field.

He turned right, and there she was. Purple suit over gold skin, angry red circles glowing from mechanical hemishperes set at each shoulder. Her defenses flared to life, and a dozen laser beams converged on him, each from a slightly different angle. He had his field up, though, and thus the light would refract as always. And it did.

Ten of the beams bent at mad angles, slicing through the air and surrounding walls alike in a completely harmless manner. Eleven and twelve, though, the two that looked like they would have missed anyways, bent instead inwards. Sizzling holes opened over his heart, and in his throat. The cyborg had watched his approach, through several different types of sensors. Before he had even made it halfway through the maze, she had already calculated what angle she would need to fire her lasers at to take advantage of the refraction effect he created. Though they were blunted somewhat, each was still easily potent enough to burn through regular human flesh and bone.

Prince of Orphans vs Deadline
This was the epitome of a stalemate. Swirling, deadly mist versus completely intangible gunfighter. They moved through the villages,trying every weapon and tactic they had available. Eventually, though, it was the Engineer who ended the fight. Since the man wasn't struck deaf during the fight, he was obviously still interacting with sound waves. Blasting painful ultrasonic frequencies, while she hovered out of reach of his arms and depended on her armor to hold off his weapons. Crushing waves of sonic force battered his skull, until he fell.

 

[Aristotle]

Prep Time

HOTNA's strategy is probably going to be pretty straightforward. They stay close as a team so Turtle can selectively cancel speed of anyone that attacks them. Turtle can't risk a blanket speed-cancel of the whole battleground, because it would make his team just as ineffectual as it would the Dozen.

The Turtle, then, has to be the lynchpin of HOTNA's strategy. And that means you have to take out the Turtle first and worry about the rest later.

 

[Aristotle]

Battle Time
Ubers
The instant battle starts, Merlin uses magical scrying and Thundermind accesses his cosmic awareness to locate the tight knot of opposing team members. Thundermind teleports directly to the location instantaneously, and before anyone can react, transmutes Turtle's psi-blocker (built by Batman from High Evolutionary tech) into dust, reaches into Turtle's mind, and shuts it down. Captain Britain leaps toward Thundermind, realizing the danger this poses, even as Merlin materializes nearby with Captain Boomerang, and Living Lightning and Liberty Belle arrive at superspeed.

The battle is still only seconds old. With his super-vision, Thundermind spots the Atom attempting the old enter-through-the-ear-and-****-up-the-brain trick, and he swats the tiny reg away, at which time Merlin magically seals off the area containing himself, Thundermind, Turtle, and Cap. Thundermind takes bodily possession of the unconscious Turtle. To distract Captain Britain, Merlin blasts him with magical energy. The energy doesn't seriously damage Cap, but the concussive force knocks him to the ground. It's all Thundermind needs. Now in full control of Turtle's powers, he immobilizes the spirit of England completely. Merlin goes to work pounding the crap out of Cap. It's not going to happen quickly, because Cap is quite durable. But it's just a matter of time.

Meds and Regs
Dusting himself off from his unceremonious swatting at the hands of Thundermind, Atom jumps back into the fight, only to find it not going well. Liberty Belle has tackled Batman and removed him to a remote area for a superspeed/superstrength fight he can't win. Boomer is atop an outcropping of rock, watching for Psylocke, who has gone invisible, to show herself so he can bean her with a boomerang. Living Lightning, has his forcefield up and is laying down massive blasts of lightning, blanketing the area. The carpet-bombing effect of this takes a moment, but eventually finds its mark. It can hardly do otherwise. The lightning slams home into the invisible Psylocke. The shock causes her to lose momentary control of her powers: she becomes visible. It's the only opening Boomer needs. He whips an extra-heavy boomerang straight into her head and knocks her out cold. It's the last thing he'll do in the fight, however, as the Atom waltzes right into his brain and conks him out.

Elsewhere on the mountain, well away from the Citadel, Liberty Belle is putting the smackdown on Batman. He's a good martial artist, and of course a genius, but his utility belt won't get him out of this jam. Even his anti-speedster countermeasure (the vibro-bullet from JLA) won't succeed here, because Jesse is familiar with it, having been a Reservist with the JLA and a well-connected member of the Flash family and the superhero community at large. She's too fast for any of his other tools. Batman simply can't win this fight. He's up against superstrength at superspeed, and he doesn't have a kryptonite ring to pull out of his pocket against a superpowered human. Liberty Belle drops Batman.

Closing Move
It's Liberty Belle, Living Lightning, Merlin, and Thundermind vs. Atom. The Atom has the one advantage of being very small and hard to find, but against Thundermind, he is of course outmatched. Having finished with Turtle and Captain Britain, Thundermind reaches out with his cosmic awareness and locates Atom. He shrinks down to atomic size and teleports to Atom's location. They're in close quarters, and Thundermind can counter any size-change Atom makes with a change of his own, and he has a full set of superpowers to boot. Atom can't win the fight, and falls quickly.

Deadly Dozen, 4-0.

 

[Aristotle]

Final Thoughts on Thundermind: I'm guessing that one of the big points of contention in this match will be whether or not he can do what I say he can do. He derives each of these powers from a specific siddhi. So here's a discussion of the powers he used in this fight, basically just a reference guide to which siddhi it's derived from.
Cosmic Awareness: Tri-kala-jnatvam (knowing the past, present, and future)
Teleportation: Manaḥ-javah (moving the body where the thought goes)
Superspeed: Vayu Gaman Siddhi (traveling from one place to another in just a few seconds)
Transmutation: Surya Vigyan (power to transmute anything using solar energy)
Mind control: Vastva (power to subjugate) and Ajna Apratihata Gatiḥ (orders and commands are unimpeded)
Super-vision: Dura-darsanam (seeing all things)
Bodily possession: Parkaya Pravesha (entering into the body of another)
Size alteration: Madalasa Vidya (changing one's size to as small or large as desired.)

 

[DTL Commish]

Voting is now open

 

[Franklin Richards]

The Deadly Dozen


and


The Spanish Inquisition


Using Thundermind and Merlin was a much better lineup. The speedster seem to work better in a support role in this instance.

 

[Aristotle]

Normally I wouldn't vote this early, but I'm almost certainly not going to be around until Monday, so Spanish Inquisition's lineup gets the vote because they outclass C&O on every level and they're going to be able to dictate the direction and matchups.

 

[wiegeabo]

Ok, finally got my battle up.

 

[wiegeabo]

The Deadly Dozen

If there's any combination that can take care of Turtle, it's Thundermind and Merlin. And if Turtle is down, the rest of the Heroes don't have much of a chance.

 

[Khellendros]

The Deadly Dozen. Better Uber combo, and flatout better Regs. Plus, a bit of a faux pas with having Turtle slow down EVERYONE on the other team.

 

[XFanTim]

The Deadly Dozen -- Nightwing's strategy is too dependent on using Turtle to freeze everyone. That might work against the ubers, but he isn't really allowed to do that against the regs/meds.

My other vote goes to The Spanish Inquisition. Wieg and Khell chose different uber matchups, but ultimately I think Khell's team could dictate the mathcups because of Spartan's teleportation. (Yes, Exodus can teleport too, but Spartan can just instantly put whatever foe he wants to fight in front of him.) Teleporting Kyle's ring off is a great idea, and would basically take one uber down instantly. And since Wieg wanted to beat Spartan by double teaming him, that basically kills that option. Khell's ubers also have a significant speed advantage over Wieg's. Regarding the lower level fights, using sound against an intangible opponent was pretty clever. As Khell says, it's not like phasing makes him deaf.

 

[Aristotle]

For clarification purposes, I'd like to point out that my Merlin is not the Merlin of ancient times. He's a descendant of that Merlin.

 

[Ahura Mazda]

The Deadly Dozen & The Spanish Inquisition

 

[LadyVader]

The Deadly Dozen and Spanish Inquisition

 

[TheCorpulent1]

The Deadly Dozen and the Spanish Inquisition.

Nightwing's strategy was pretty flawed, unfortunately. It's one thing to blanket a giant area and freeze normal people, but the Dozen include several speedsters who would, at best, simply be reduced to normal speed, which is more than enough in a couple cases to just completely dominate their opposing number on the Heroes of the New Age. Not to mention, the Turtle freezing all the lower classes would be illegal.

wieg and Khell's match was tougher to decide, but Khell's team does sort of outclass wieg's across the board except for Superman Blue and Kyle, and wieg's strategy read like his lower classes were all sort of scrambling around and merely buying time until a couple of them could team up against just one of Khell's characters. Also, wieg's strategy of disabling the Citadel kind of doesn't work because even if he blows it up at the start of the battle, Khell's team still has all of the prep time to scavenge whatever tech they want and build all sorts of nasty surprises for wieg's team.

 

[Alex The Great]

Deadly Dozen and Spanish Inquistion. Both great write ups that sold me

 

[DTL Commish]

Voting is now closed

The Deadly Dozen: 8
Heroes of the New Age: 0

The Spanish Inquisition: 7
Chaos & Order: 0