X-Men: War 3.0 - Round 2!
Welcome back to Round 2 of X-Men: War!
If you haven’t played before you can read about the origin of X-MEN: WAR here.
And you can see Round 1 results here (voting now closed).
Please note that while voting for Round 1 lasted three days — mostly to give everyone a chance to realize we were playing again — voting for Round 2 lasts only ONE day, so don’t mull your votes over too long, weirdos. ;D
If you haven’t played before, the rules are simple — just keep reading and vote for your favs in each match, simple as that. And feel free to make your thoughts known in the comments, I’d say keep it civil, but we’ve literally never had a problem with that so I am UNCONCERNED. You do unfortunately have to be a paid subscriber to vote and comment.
Then tomorrow when all the voting has been calculated I’ll deal out a new round with the winners of this round — and we start the voting again for the survivors.
And we keep going until we have one triumphant X-Man to rule them all.
FYI, because we had an uneven number of matches, I advanced one loser from Round 1 with the best score against their opponent (Quicksilver v Pixie). And if you guys thought Round 1 had some tough matches… strap in!
OH! All card art by the incredible Jim Lee, except the “new” cards — which are credited in the image captions.
ROUND TWO!
FIGHT 1: WOLVERINE (LOGAN) v QUICKSILVER
Ooops. Might have been better not to make it to this round, Pietro! I don’t really find this to be a contest — but for die-hard speedster fans, maybe this is fun?
FIGHT 2: MAGIK v CABLE
Mmm. I feel this will be controversial. I’m going Magik, but I can’t deny it’s a hell of a fight.
FIGHT 3: BEAST v JEAN GREY
Jean Grey all day. But if it was the old Hank McCoy I knew and loved before he became what he is today (ish?) I would feel terrible about it. As is, it’s fine? I miss you Hank!
FIGHT 4: POLARIS v ICEMAN
Oooh. Exes match up! I think Polaris takes this, but it would be a helluva fight I think, especially if there are tempers flaring up from ancient ex-grudges.
FIGHT 5: CYCLOPS v STORM
I don’t underrate Cyclops. X-MEN 44 turned me into a forever fan, even if I frequently disagree with the dude, but we already saw this play out when Storm had NO powers… the way she is today? That’s a TKO, man.
FIGHT 6: DEADPOOL v WOLVERINE (LAURA)
AHHHHHHH. I hate it. There are very few cards in this deck that can defeat Wade IMO, but Laura is one of them. AHHHHHHHH. There will be so much blood and probably missing limbs. AHHHHHHH.
FIGHT 7: PROFESSOR X v MYSTIQUE
More exes… sorta… I guess? That said, I think it’s an interesting match up. Tbh, I think Mystique takes him. She’ll do anything to win, and she’s brilliant and devious and yeah, she’s got Charles number.
FIGHT 8: SPIRAL v PIXIE
Oh, this is intriguing, but I confess, I feel like my knowledge on both ladies is too shallow to really know — but on the surface? On the surface this is actually a really great fight and probably Spiral takes it by being older/wiser and more willing to do… unsavory things to get there.
That said, have I ever told you guys my theory that whoever picks up the weapon first in a fight loses? Yes, it’s true (which I guess makes it not so much a theory as a fact…sorta). In action movies, almost every time, the guy who picks up the weapon first loses. Which does makes narrative sense — the guy who picks up the weapon first is essentially raising the danger level of the fight, and we don’t expect our heroes to do that, we expect (sorta) for them to de-escalate. It also suggests that they person who DOES not pick up the weapon first is superior — perhaps just in skill, but also maybe also in morality? I suspect mileage varies — but check it out in your action television and movies — let me know if you see some outliers — I’ve seen a few, but you’ll be shocked by how clockwork it is.
So maybe Pixie doesn’t reach for that weapon first and thus eventually takes this fight? ;D
FIGHT 9: MONET v PSYLOCKE (KWANNON)
Hmmm. Like most of these second round fights, this is a good fight. I think Psylocke takes it in the end, but that might be my “fav character bias” showing. ;D
FIGHT 10: MULTIPLE MAN v CERISE
Not gonna lie, my man Jamie got real lucky in this draw. I still think this is a great fight, but I think at this level, Cerise is one of a few cards he might beat in this round. Like, Cerise is gonna absolutely pummel a lot of Multiple Mans (creating only more of her problem!)… bruises for days… but I think in the end he’d overwhelm her, she can’t be shields up forever.
FIGHT 11: ROGUE v ARMOR
NO! I hate it! What moron dealt these fucking cards!?!
Goddamn. Okay, well, I have to go with Rogue, but I hate seeing Armor get knocked out here. And honestly, I don’t think it’s a gimme by any means. Perhaps I’m overrating Armor, but I think she can really give Rogue a fight. But experience and more flexibility in power type gives Rogue the edge to me.
FIGHT 12: MAGNETO v PHOENIX (RACHEL GREY)
Well. Here we fucking go.
I lean Magneto here, but I suspect that will be controversial!
FIGHT 13: SUNSPOT v WHITE QUEEN (EMMA FROST)
Sunspot maybe has the raw power here but it’s just hard to beat a hardcore bitch like Emma, man. The icy bitch gets my vote and it’s not close. Am I wrong? Excited to hear about it in the comments! ;D
FIGHT 14: DOMINO v GAMBIT
I think this is a fucking bloody-as-hell-10-rounds-barely-standing-greatest-fight-you’ve-ever-seen, fight. And because it’s Domino and her power is literally luck, I feel like it’s a coin flip who wins… but if it’s a coin flip, seems like that’s “luck” and thus Domino… BUT Gambit is also all about luck/odds/gambling I mean… the man’s name is GAMBIT for chrissakes. I’d lean Remy, partially for sentimental reasons, but I think it’s likely a toss up.
Funny nerd story, the first Domino I fell in love with in the comics, was actually COPYCAT. As it was Copycat (a shapeshifter) pretending to be Domino in the first X-FORCE comics I read as a teen. Comics are weird, man.
Hrmmm. There was some error on the Domino/Gambit poll and I think it closed in an hour, instead of a day. So I’m opening a new one and… well, it’s gonna be messy. If you didn’t get to vote already, vote here, but don’t vote twice unless you’re naughty (that’s not an invite to be naughty!)
OLD CLOSED POLL:
Okay. How’d you do? Did your favs make it through? Who are you heartbroken to not see here? Anyone have any guesses as to who will take it all? If too early for that, who are our semi-finalists? Show your work. ;D
ETA: As reminder, round 2 will begin on Sunday night MONDAY, due to poll shenanigans!
Kelly
Laura v Deadpool would be so fun. I'd love to see Gwenpool on the sidelines eating popcorn
X-Men War unh! What is it good for? Quite a bit, actually! For example, it’s super fun to think about and it momentarily distracts from the crappity-crap of the real world. So, thank goodness for that, am I right or am I right or am I right?
Anyway, sad to see the Beast get absolutely trounced in this round. No matter what twists and turns these characters get saddled with in their decades-long runs in the comics, Dr. Hank McCoy will always be thoughtful, brilliant, and sweet-natured at his core in my heart. But, yeah… Jean mops the floor with his furry, blue butt.
Polaris v Iceman was a fun one. That’s what’s so great about this game. I had to stop and really imagine their battle. And I was pretty stymied. You can really see how both of them would get some great shots in. And both would have formidable defenses to the other’s powers. I went with Polaris. Because… um… magnetism beats cold this time?
Deadpool v Wolverine!!! Holy guacamole! Laura wins in my book. Maybe purely on will. But EPIC fight.
I went with Professor X over Mystique with the theory that he’d be able to track and subdue her no matter what form she took. But I’m second guessing that now. If both combatants are squared of against each other and there’s kind of a “3… 2… 1… Fight” scenario, then Charles could/should win. If Mystique can ambush Charles, he’s toast.
Rogue v Armor hurt me. I think Rogue wins but Armor is very, very, very tough, smart, and cool.
Weirdly, the vote for Magneto v Phoenix was already set when I got to that one. Magneto got the nod, which is what I *think* I would have done…? (But I also *think* I’d give it to Jean Grey over Magneto, which is interesting to me. Maybe Jean’s experience makes the difference for me? Well, maybe I’ll get the chance to ponder it further in the next round!)
Anyway, I really like X-Men War. Thanks for bringing it back!