One quarter-final left to play...
Asgard vs Avengers West Coast!
Arrogance means never thinking you have to face consequences. Daddy spoiled you in the cradle, never taking your toys away regardless of the tantrum. Or maybe you just think you're something special, that the ordinary rules don't apply to you.
I'll tell you what - it doesn't matter if you're god, man or just a jumped-up Alexa with a magic forehead rock. Justice means something in the Land of the Free. Get too slap-happy with your hammer, and eventually the nails are going to take notice, maybe come and do something about you.
This is America. We burned witches. We drove off the first boatload of vikings who showed up uninvited. And we can take our own vengeance without a bunch of Californian capes trying to do it for us!
J. Jonah Jameson
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Asgard
Battling their way through a gruelling qualifier against Namor's Invaders, the Asgardians will be Kraken's rainbow bridge to the semi-finals. Thor (now with a new model) is still the powerhouse, with some tricksy objective grabbing from Enchantress and movement from Heimdall (also with a new model) that may come in useful for scoring.
Generating extra power will be very useful for this team, and Loki's ability to make opponents' powers more expensive will neutralise Captain America's leadership. The swine.
Tactics are: Doomed Prophecy, Freyja’s Blessing, Odin’s Blessing, Rainbow Bridge, Sibling Rivalry
Avengers West Coast
After a solid run against the Criminal Syndicate, I, Stylus, now have to face the gods. As with the Asgardians, there is one stand-out character, so a lot will depend if Scarlet Witch shows up. Vision is capable of going toe-to-toe with any Asgardian that doesn't have a hammer, and Quicksilver has his eyes on scooping up legacy cures.
Team tactics: The Whims of Chaos, Second Wind, Can I Borrow That?, No More Mutants, Battle Plan
Deployment
Our first crisis is Cosmic Invasion! Black Order Descends on Earth, which is a straightforward secure of four Cosmic Vaults (with the outside chance that they might give you some extra power and a bit of a shove.
Of more interest is the extract crisis: Deadly Legacy Virus Cured? There are three Legacy Cures and 1VP for holding each of them. But if a character happens to be holding all three Legacy Cures in the clean-up phase, they may KO themselves and trade all three cures in for 6VP. Such selfless self-sacrifice is very thematic with our teams (except maybe you, Loki).
The Asgardians stick together, clearly all sharing a ride on the Bifrost together, and take up a central position.
The Avengers spread out more, with Vision on his own down the left flank.
Captain America and Scarlet Witch take the centre (Cap's going to spend the game trying to keep within Range 2 of Wanda, so he can bodyguard her).
Quicksilver does his warm-up stretches on top of a garbage truck on the right flank, but probably won't be there for long.
Asgard takes priority and we're away.
Round 1
The Asgardians start boldly, with Heimdall running into the centre to pick up the middle Legacy Cure. Loki runs to the east to secure one of the Cosmic Vaults and pick up another Legacy Cure, while Thor follows behind to keep him out of mischief.
Vision doesn't want to get too close to the brothers, so hangs back and tries to hit them both with his Solar Energy Beam (with negligible effects), then throw a kiosk at Loki (who only takes one damage from Odin's Blessing)
Down the centre, Scarlet Witch moves to pick on the exposed Heimdall, but her hexes are taking a while to get warmed up, and he only suffers a few points of damage and a Judgement token. She's too far away to throw anything at him, and Captain America hangs back to keep an eye on the northern Cosmic Vault.
Quicksilver scoots along the right flank, hoping to keep out of sight, and picks up a Legacy Cure and secures the western Cosmic Vault.
That just leaves Enchantress, who settles herself on the southern Cosmic Vault.
At the end of the round, it's the Avengers who get the first hits in, but no real damage done and it's Asgard who nudge ahead on points.
Asgard 4 : 3 Avengers
Round 2
The Asgardians go first, and Thor wastes no time in using Sibling Rivalry to yeet Loki into Vision. The God of Mischief follows up with a couple of Strikes that dazes the synthezoid.
Captain America and Scarlet Witch attempt to even the scores by battering Heimdall, but he proves resilient to their attacks and falls back to the southern Cosmic Vault on his last point of damage.
Not wanting to get closer to Enchantress (who could just take his Legacy Cure by asking nicely), Quicksilver zooms back to cover the northern Cosmic Vault that Cap abandoned.
Robbed of easy prey, Enchantress flies over to double-team the eastern Cosmic Vault with Loki, while Thor leaps into the midst of the enemy, intent on smashing the lot of them. This runs into a few snags when the Scarlet Witch prevents him from throwing a building with No More Mutants, then Captain America uses his Vibranium Shield to protect Wanda and take no damage.
The Asgardians are once again leading on the VPs, but the priority now passes to the Avengers.
Asgard 8 : 5 Avengers
Round 3
Waking up from his nap, Vision is first to go and wastes no time in blasting the cluster of gods with his Solar Energy Beam. Loki users his Trickster ability to duck out of the way, but Enchantress takes the full hit, followed by a car thrown at her, and she is dazed. There is no escaping from Vision's second Solar Energy Beam and Loki is also dazed!
With a cry of For Asgard!, Thor jumps towards Quicksilver, who uses Can't Catch Me to dodge out of hammer range. The thunder god secures the northern Cosmic Vault, but is frustratingly short of people to hit.
Continuing his sprint, Quicksilver returns to his post on the western Cosmic Vault, securing that for the Avengers.
Meanwhile, Captain America and Scarlet Witch continue to target Heimdall, and they finally daze him on the third time of asking. Cap scoops up the Legacy Cure, but can't quite reach the Cosmic Vault.
That was a strong round for the Avengers, dazing three of the Asgardians, two of them before they had a chance to react. On the other hand, it hasn't translated into points, and almost all of Thor's crew are on maximum power for the fourth round.
Asgard 9 : 8 Avengers
Round 4
Some movement shenanigans to start the round - we've been rolling for characters contesting Cosmic Vaults, and there's been some shoving going on. The crucial pushes happen this turn, when Thor gets dragged off his objective, and Quicksilver gets flung forward out of hiding.
Asgard also plays the Rainbow Bridge tactic, which repositions everyone onto more advantageous places.
Heimdall starts by chasing down Quicksilver. For once, the speedster can't outrun trouble, since the Guardian of the Bifrost can teleport after him. And we realise why Quicksilver was so keen to avoid trouble, when he gets dazed in a single Strike!
The Legacy Cure scatters on the ground, and Heimdall picks it up.
On the other side of the battle, Vision is facing all three Asgardians and focuses his beam on Enchantress, zapping her out of the game and scorching Loki's robes. Thor charges in to deal with Vision, but finds the Enhanced Density difficult to punch through and has to settle for picking up Loki's dropped Legacy Cure.
Captain America decides to lend a hand and frisbees his shield at Loki, scoring a cinematic hit that knocks out Loki with one strike. It even ricochets onto Thor, who's also looking a bit unsteady on his feet.
Scarlet Witch continues her vendetta against Heimdall, throwing both a Hex Bolt and a portacabin in his direction. Amazingly, the All-Seeing remains on his feet, although with only one point of damage left and his armour on fire.
Each side only takes 2 VP this round, but it's been a disaster for the Asgardians: two of their number KO, and the remaining two on a couple of damage points left.
Asgard 11 : 10 Avengers
Round 5
Heimdall starts the round trying to squash Quicksilver once again, but this time he manages to scurry away and he has to content himself with securing the western Cosmic Vault. Then Scarlet Witch flies in and KOs him with a Hex Bolt.
Quicksilver regains his Legacy Cure and rans back to the northern Cosmic Vault
Vision proves quicker on the draw than Thor and, taking no chances with his last point of damage, punches with his Synthezoid Avenger attack and dazes the thunder god, who drops his Legacy Cure.
It's not quite over yet, but with two Cures and three Vaults in their possession, the Avengers' lead looks unassailable - but uncommonly, we are going into Round 6.
Asgard 11 : 15 Avengers
Round 6
Back on his feet, Thor goes out in magnificent style. Playing the Doomed Prophecy tactic, he will be rolling a bucketload of attack dice this round, at a cost of having no physical defence.
Naturally, this hammer strike is too much for Vision, who takes another mjölnir-induced nap.
And so ends Ragnarok II - it started off looking good for the Asgardians, but it's West Coast Avengers for the semi-finals!
Asgard 11 : 21Avengers
Back at the Bullpen
Wow, that was quite a shellacking! With both sides having heavy-hitters and movement tricks, I guess this battle could have gone either positional or attritional - and ended up being both. I'm impressed with how Cap's Avengers operate together, although I though Kraken made better use of his team's tactics cards and did run into a spell of bad luck.
That's true to an extent, but also kind! I think flinging Loki away and leaving him to fend for himself, even for a mere half-turn, was a mistake. Vision stole all his power, leaving him unable to outwit foes, and very wisely used it all to clobber Enchantress before she could do anything.
Vision has to be the MVP - once again holding down a flank by himself and taking out many Asgardians, often before they had a chance to activate (poor Enchantress never had a chance to shine). Quicksilver was also solid as a VP-scorer - his unlucky defence roll did exaggerate how fragile he can be, but I think keeping him out of range is the best approach.
I don't think either of our high-threat characters showed up this game - Scarlet Witch just had poor dice rolls and made very heavy weather of taking down Heimdall for the whole game (who was doing a similar job to Vision, and would be my pick for Asgard's MVP). Thor was unlucky to be neutralised then pushed out of position, but he really can take on anything once he's directed there.
And that's the last of the quarter-finals done - next week, we're off to the semis!
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Yet another low-key display that left me less than enchanted. Thor losers, one and Heimdall!
Who did they lose to? Not exactly Wanda-kind! I Vi-shun the idea that these second-raters did more than play a cap as a team. Poor America - her ideals once more betrayed by those who claim to uphold them, and for a good deal less than thirty quick silvers.
J. Jonah Jameson
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