It is a great time to be a sports fan. Major League Baseball’s Opening Day is here, starting a brand new season. NCAA Basketball has determined its Final Four. The National Hockey League is standing on the edge of another Stanley Cup Playoff. Vs. System will be crowning champions in three separate arenas. The action never stops.
Here on the mother ship, the ballots have been counted and the results tabulated for the announcement of the first-ever Vs. System Hero of the Month.
Across the pond, the future (unofficial) U.K. National champion is sharpening the sleeves for a winning run on April 5. The format is Bring Your Own Set, and the competition will be fierce. You can cheer your chosen charger at The Kamiza, and celebrate with your mates at the pub when it’s done.
Then, we have Mega Weekend Chicago. This event promises to be a three-ring circus of card-flipping camaraderie and conquest. It is attracting big names, and unleashing even bigger excitement, by offering prizes and formats of all shapes and sizes. Let me count down just a few of the characters you might run into in the Windy City this weekend.
10. Shane “inklawyer” Wiggins will be returning! Back in the day, he answered the $24,000 question with a runner-up performance at Pro Circuit Atlanta, and now he has his sights on the mad fun that comes with the chase for the Playstation 3. Or maybe his bar-exam tested wits will snatch the Wii. Either way, it is a glorious day in Vs. System when this friendly grin is back in the tournament hall. Especially when he’s bringing the Spooky.
9. Michael “BigSpooky” Barnes will be shooting for a triple double this weekend, seeking to slay the dragons of the Modern and Silver formats, then turning his sights toward Squire Kershner in the inaugural Jankstastic Showdown. Who will triumph while using Master Mold, The Joker, Emperor Joker, and The Infinity Gauntlet? I can hardly wait to find out.
8. Tim “Valde” Rivera is scheduled to appear, representing Las Vegas. He is a high roller of the skilled kind. If you are looking to sharpen your wits and face off against one of the best technical minds in the game, hope to be paired with him. He is sure to bring the best tech available, and he is planning to drag along the Niles.
7. Niles “jimi berluti” Rowland is epic, in every way a TCG player can be. You’d want him to paint your house, share a story, or have a pillow fight. All that, before you even think about shuffling up. Then, when you roll the dice and choose initiative, he transforms into something even greater. If you have the good fortune of sitting across from this man, you will never be the same.
6. Squire “HomerJ” Kirschner is somewhat of an enigma in the Vs. System community. He is a bona fide superstar, but we only know him from his golden voice. Along with Cliff “CaptainComet” Parameter, the true culprit who picked The Infinity Gauntlet for the Janktastic Showdown, Squire has cut loose weekly on the podcast known as The Ring Has Chosen. The program has been a smash hit on VsRealms.com since its inception. Now, we get to see Squire in action. The legend will continue.
5. Charles “cchug2001” Huggins will be running a road trip from Florida, and his signature Kangol will be perched securely on top. He is my prediction for main mystery man, possibly winning himself a choice piece of original art in the process. Good luck, my friend. Bring it home for the Sunshine State.
4. Mike “MadTitanFan” Jiles has always set the competitive world ablaze with his wacky concoctions that win. He made the finals of the original Mega Weekend with a Darkseid deck that defined the archetype forever. Who knows what’s in tow this time? Mike runs kooky killer stuff, dispatching opponents in ways they never thought possible. The anticipation is building!.
3. Cal “SeventhSoldier” Cleary is ditching school at Ohio University to throw his hat into the ring this weekend, and he gave us a preview of his plan of attack:
I love jank, and I build really fun jank, but I do not build tourney-level super-jank. I have the heart, but not the mind. I’m still thinking about Silver Age, especially with my Heralds/Legionnaires endurance-gain deck. It actually plays pretty well against at least one of the big decks—Hidden Injustice Gang. Generally, if a deck wins by trying to push through beats, it has a good game.
I might have to forego my attempts to win a Wii, as Bring Your Own Set is one of my single favorite formats. Then again, there’s that Random Punks thing too. I may just try to sneak into one of those. My plans for the Windy City Vs. Extravaganza are as follows: Supercrossover Sealed, Modern Age, Random Punks, Galactus Raid. I hope to see all of you at the Mega Weekend!
Thanks, Cal; we’ll be checking your blog for a report. The Seventh Soldier should have some seriously good times. We will also be cheering our hearts out from the online sidelines.
2. Patrick “Majestic” Yapjoco will be looking to defend his recent Mega Weekend title, if his travel arrangements are successful. Perhaps the most talented player in the world right now, I do not doubt his ability to repeat. The West Coast is counting on it, and the reports will be worth it either way. The man is a model of competitive intelligence, and we are blessed to have him around. I hope he makes it all the way from California to Chicago, the championship would mean that much more.
1. Keebler “captain morgan” Powell is the final face on the countdown, but he can jump high enough to take you back to the top of the page. Seriously, the man bounces into the air like a cricket. My heart has been aching to see the spectacle of Keebler Powell return to Vs. System once again, and Mega Weekend Chicago is the place to be. The Keeb is scheduled to perform, keep your antennae crossed.
There will be plenty of real-time results from the Mega Weekend on VsRealms.com, and you can tune in here next week for a full summary on Rallying Cry! Paul Sung is writing an unbearably brilliant series of comprehensive technical articles leading up to the event on Carlos the Dwarf’s masterblog. Head over and catch up on your current competitive deck archetypes, while being thoroughly entertained by huge slabs of quality writing. The competition is about to cook; we shall see what boils to the surface. It might be insane.
While you’re going crazy waiting for the results from the many faces of Vs. System victory, you can visit some previously undiscovered online territory. Join the team in Tampa for a cozy night in the Arkham Asylum. It is a very friendly place, with some fabulous distractions. Then, if you ever get your wits about you, you can start the countdown all over. By then, the events will be done, and we will have a whole handful of winners.
Today, there is one championship ring to bestow. The Stu-vivor competition to determine the Lord of the Realms has finally been decided. Before signing off, I will regale you with a selection of triumphant prose from each of the obstacles. These were all written by our newly crowned Internet Godfather—as voted by the community. He has defeated all the others, and his name is Chris “gdaybloke” Miller. These are my favorite parts of his winning work:
1. I think some folks out there would be disappointed in me if I didn’t bring up the tallest man in Vs. System, Wilbur Day.
That’s right. Stilt-Man.
As an Australian, it’s ingrained in me culturally to love the little man, to be a fan of those fighting against impossible odds.
Let me tell you why I like Wilbur Day as a character.
For a start, he was named Wilbur. Not a burly man name, not a strong name, and when he was young, chances are good that he copped more than the odd Mr. Ed reference. I don’t imagine his childhood would have been much fun.
Then he gets his hands on some armor. Combat armor. Complete with a wrist-mounted gun. And, yes, stilts. Wilbur Day’s is a real David and Goliath story; only this time David is the tall, evil one.
2. So there you have it. She-Hulk, Green Jeans. A card that was okay, but nothing too special, and two fantasy cards that could make her that much niftier. This would also make it possible to play a She-Hulk Legends deck, a dream we should all share. An attack pump and a way to remove reinforcement, both tied in to comic continuity!
3. I ran a little pet deck of mine that I call the Midnight Toystore. The concept’s pretty simple: abuse the Midnight Sons engine to get yourself any team affiliations that tickle your fancy, and grab all that lovely equipment that’s free for specific teams, and then slap them all over your characters for a nice beat-o-rama.
4. If I may be so bold, please pull up a beanbag chair, and let me spin you a tale. The whole thing started when Peter Parker, otherwise known as the Sensational Spider-Man, moved into a new loft in SoHo with his lovely wife. Peter went to the Daily Bugle to look for some freelance work, only to find that Thomas Fireheart, also known as Puma, had purchased the newspaper in a hostile takeover. Puma, Thomas Fireheart believed that he had a debt of honor that he would repay by getting rid of all the Bad Press that had surrounded Peter for much of his career.
5. Lives are often filled with stories and adventures, even if they are just tales of glorious mediocrity. When it comes to my own life, there’s one story that comes to mind as being possibly the most significant, the most impactful of all. It doesn’t hurt that it’s tied intrinsically to the most important woman in my life.
It begins back in the sunburnt country, Australia. While I lived in rural New South Wales, it certainly wasn’t in an Outback Stronghold. I was studying at university when I first met the future Mrs. Gdaybloke, visiting Australia for the first time. Needless to say she was swayed by my roguish swagger, debonair good looks, and sexy accent. It certainly wasn’t a Chilly Reception.
We spent a year together. It was the happiest year I had yet experienced in my life.
Chris, that was before you became Lord of the Realms. Just imagine how glorious your victory tour of the interwebs will be, now that you have been chosen King. When you are done basking in your accolades, meet us back here next week to see who came out on top in the Mega Weekend and the unofficial U.K. Nationals. We will have some more celebrating to do.
Rian Fike is also known as stubarnes, and he can’t wait until the final buzzer sounds and the confetti drops. Send suggestions, slap shots, and slam dunks to: rianfike@hattch.com.