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David Lozano's avatar

I'm with you on most of these Kelly (also great to see this make a comeback, its real fun), though I'd be willing to believe things would go very differently for Ms. Moonstar if she's got her Valkyrie upgrades to play with (which to my understanding she does but just rarely uses them? Can't say I get it but hey what can you do. Also maybe we'll see her rock some sick wings a la Jane Foster 🤞🏽🤞🏽)

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Kelly Thompson's avatar

Well, I'm definitely not an expert on Dani's Valkyrie abilities -- but from the little reading I did -- they seemed like they'd be very effective against most people -- but not Deadpool so much. I mean, some, sure, but for this guy nightmares (and deaths) come easily -- I don't know if there's enough there to overcome his strengths.

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bill's avatar

Ohhhh totally forgot about her being a Valkyrie! Good catch!!

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mike g's avatar

Oh man, I forgot about that as well. Good catch!

Agreed, Jane’s wings are totally rad. Undrjarn is so cool.

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tatere's avatar

Rachel v Domino, it's not about who's stronger, it's about who could win. Rachel had it in the bag until that unexpected volcano in the second half...

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Kelly Thompson's avatar

Ha! I love this. Point taken.

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Christos's avatar

"I am luck! I am plot armor incarnate! Now and forever, I am Domino!"

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mike g's avatar

Yeah! These are so great.

I really wanted to vote for Domino. I am definitely Team Luck for the win in almost any scrap, but also, Phoenix. I mean... she can just scorch everything and do it from altitude. Domino’s powers always seem more up close. Tough to beat that from the ground. Same with longshot. That’s a rough go. Also i feel like magik could probably also put her thumb on the probability scale to balance it out and then he’s a guy with some guns and that’s not even a contest.

Multiple Man vs Mystique, that would be awesome. My money is mystique getting jamie prime before the dupes figure it out. Slow burn infiltration type scrap

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Chuck Kallenbach's avatar

I love seeing the new cards! More Phil Noto is never bad.

Cyke vs. Iceman... they called Bobby "Alpha Two" when they blew up the Gala (Jean was Alpha One.) Crazy shit. But I did vote Bobby.

I can't believe that after 60 years as an X-Men fan, there are still some that I don't know much of anything about. (Meggan, Kylun, Feral, Cerise) But there are a lot of Mutants, in my defense.

Hate to see my faves go down hard in the first round: Domino, Boom Boom, Strong Guy, Dazzler. You do draw them randomly, right?

Mystique cannot defeat Multiple Man! There's just too many of him!

Also... Magneto was right. He's still right.

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Kelly Thompson's avatar

Yeah, it was fun to make them.

When I post the results post on Tuesday (?) I'll also be asking folks to vote on whether -- for game purposes -- they want me to make a "New Card" for Betsy Braddock (either called Betsy Braddock or Captain Britain) and let the old Psylocke card become Kwannon or not. It makes a lot of sense to me, but I'm not as protective of Betsy as some folks, so I thought I'd test the waters and make it a question.

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Rob Graham's avatar

Blast-and-a-half as always! My favorite matchups were Cyclops vs. Iceman, Dazzler vs. Kitty Pryde, Armor vs. Storm, and most of all, Multiple Man vs. Mystique!

As I was deliberating and overthinking my votes, an idea occurred. If you feel like it, maybe treat this one like a tournament. Take the winners from this vote and make that Round 1. Then randomly pit those characters against each other for a Round 2, etc. Then, we could declare the Ultimate X-Men 2.0 champion. That could be a lot of fun.

The only “problem” with that kind of tournament that I could see would be down the road. Like, no matter how the initial matchups shake out, the same characters could advance all the way through. And the same character could win it all each time. And that character is, of course, Kylun.

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Kelly Thompson's avatar

I was considering that, Rob.

I did play one of them all the way out last year -- but that was on my own, not with votes everyday. Maybe if I tied the results into another separate post, it could work. I hate to blast people (some of whom aren't playing) with daily posts on this -- but if they were a section of posts about other things...maybe that works? I'll think on it!

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Smhoak's avatar

Strong guy may never get justice. -written by a beautiful lake on a mountain,

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Kelly Thompson's avatar

hahaha.

He got my vote!

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mike g's avatar

Nice! So you did find some signal by the lake in the mountains:D

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Kelly Thompson's avatar

lol. thought the same. <3

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Smhoak's avatar

yeah, lol, turned out to be strongest right by the tent. didn't even have to explain it to anyone.

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Kelly Thompson's avatar

The universe wanted your vote.

Or at least this substack.

(Is it wrong that I wanted you to have to explain?) lol

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Smhoak's avatar

it IS wrong, but deeply understandable.

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Kelly Thompson's avatar

I just... you painted such a funny picture... I wanted it to be real!

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Stacyswirl's avatar

Multiple Man vs Mystique is indeed incredibly intriguing! Someone needs to make this sequence happen in a book!

Blink vs Cable and Bishop vs Emma were also two very interesting matchups that, while having relatively foregone conclusions, would be really cool to witness.

Still loving the game!

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Kelly Thompson's avatar

MM vs Mystique is my new favorite idea. lol

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NarrativeMic's avatar

Why did you make some soooooo hard? I mean... I had to actually stop and debate a few times!

Excellent line ups

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Kelly Thompson's avatar

Luck of the draw! Swear to god, I just shuffle and deal "two players" and stick to that.

The only reason I'll do a redraw is if we've already (recently) seen the match up. Other than that, I try to stay true to the rules.

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Jacki (AppleJ)'s avatar

Ugh, I agree on Beast! I know some love that he's turned into total asshole over the years, but it deeply bums me out that every single scientist character turns evil. I swear, we're the good guys! 😭

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Kelly Thompson's avatar

I didn't know you were a scientist, Jacki. That's a super cool job. And you ARE the good guys. Goddammit, Hank!

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Ryan “Jabo” Jablonski's avatar

Man I’m a little disappointed that I didn’t think to grab some edibles before I answered these! Haha

Great match ups! Not as many totally lopsided ones as I expected, my wife decided to play with me and we argued dour pros and cons with everyone (that she knew at least)... it ended up being pretty great fun!

Thanks for bringing it back. This shit is great.

Oh! I think if Blink was like the AoA version Cable wouldn’t have stood a chance. The current Blink who is more teeny bopper and less survivalist probably wouldn’t last very long.

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Kelly Thompson's avatar

Haha. Edibles and then wait an hour and come back I guess?

I love that your wife played with you -- that is of course how the game began -- my brother and I talking these match ups out -- so this is perfect.

Yeah, man, I really hate that movie, but the opening future action scene with Blink and the others is INCREDIBLE. Love seeing that kind of creativity in fight scenes. Incredible.

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bill's avatar

I went Akihiro ONLY because it wasn't Kwannon/Psylocke. Also, i am completely here for multiple man vs Mystique mini-series. I'd pay more per issue if they are written after a couple edibles, too 🤣

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Kelly Thompson's avatar

haha.

noted!

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Henning's avatar

I am still hoping for the return of likable beast via multiverse shenanigans or something.

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Kelly Thompson's avatar

hope is eternal. fist bump of solidarity.

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Ryan “Jabo” Jablonski's avatar

I’m thinking it’s bound to happen? At some point Moira has to die, right? And that’ll reset them again... I think? I don’t know!! I. Just loving the ride haha

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Kelly Thompson's avatar

But Hank's personality/heel turn started way before HOX/POX.

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Ryan “Jabo” Jablonski's avatar

True... but technically it would be a soft reboot to the very beginning so they can decide what they want to keep? I just guess I’m hoping with the Animated series return they will want him fun and care free again.

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Chris's avatar

I would love to see a Secret Wars X that's just match-ups chosen this way. :)

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Kamose Mills's avatar

You’re right. Xavier’s change is realistic Kelly. And Warpath’s 7 ft? He’s three inches taller than me?✊🏾✊🏾

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Kelly Thompson's avatar

I think it’s more like 7’3” or something — but you’re 6’ 9”?!? WHOA!

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Kamose Mills's avatar

Oops. Typed wrong. Should say six inches. I’m 6’6” but one of my legs is longer than the other so I’m almost 6’7”

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Kelly Thompson's avatar

That is still very tall! I’m pretty tall for a girl (5’9”) but I’d love to be taller.

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David Corrigan's avatar

Ahh War just fills my heart with joy - only here of course! 😁

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Damon Gray's avatar

Ah man, some of these are doozies!

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Darryl Adams's avatar

If you where not now part of the Distinguished Competition, should lobby hard to make these new cards real and canon. Or better yet do either a DC version of War or a DC v Marvel version. You and James Gunn alone should be able to swing it as He's would love this (or at least the very sexy Sean Gun is James is busy)

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Kelly Thompson's avatar

I was thinking it would be fun to make new DC Cards...but since I don't have a base set -- that I'm in love with from my youth like these -- seems like A LOT of work. I'd also have to do it like...next year when I'm more comfortable in more characters skins and powersets. I've been a DC reader/fan a long time, but I basically fucking memorized the X-Men in my youth...so it's just like muscle memory...takes a lot of the blood/sweat/tears out of a project like this. But I did think maybe the next step would be using these cards and adding in NON-X-MEN. At least then I can still use the shitty/rough card bases? Something to think about.

But you're right -- maybe there's a X-Men vs DC Characters that's fun. Will keep thinking on it!

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