Midwinter Classic 2024 is now a few weeks behind us but not without leaving an awesome mark on Vs. System® 2PCG® and its community! I will be covering quite a bit in this article so get comfy. We’ll get into the diverse tournament meta breakdown, showcase decklists, share an interview with the champion, and finally… destroy some cards!
Tournament Stats & Meta Breakdown
- 27 total players, 18 different main characters!
- Top 8 had 5 different main characters
- Illustrated showed up big with 20 total decks (with 7 in the Top 8)
- Fantastic Four and Zombies made a splash across the board, and both were featured together in the winning deck
- Zombie Stilt-Man has a whopping 14 letters in its name… Mister Fantastic cares!
Top 8 Hero Meta Breakdown
3 Mr. Fantastic (FRF-008)
2 Galactus (FFO-001)
1 Sinister Six
1 Molecule Man
1 Dormamu
Finalist Decklists
The current featured format has served to introduce a wide variety of cards and game plans into the meta, but one main character stood out above the rest and both Sean Powell and Jose Barreros brought their visions on it into the finals. Let’s take a look at their two Mister Fantastic decks, how they were similar and how they differed.
Matching Cards
Surprisingly enough, despite the Mister Fantastic mirror, the decks were pretty different! Only a handful of matching cards and matching piles. Between their two lists, they both played Alicia Masters, Blastaar, Lady Deathstrike, Valeria Richards, and Fantastic Four. Completely understandable with the wombo-combo potential of Turn 1 Alicia Masters into Turn 2 7/7 Valeria Richards? *chef’s kiss*
Standout Cards
Sean “Keebler” Powell was one of many Zombie enjoyers and managed to fit 10 copies of them into his winning list. A couple of the standout picks were Zombie Stilt-Man (14 XP for Mister Fantastic on Turn 1!) and Zombie Hawkeye.
While Jose Barreros may have had some matching cards with his final’s opponent and many other competitors, he was one of few who registered Nick Fury Sr. and the ONLY player playing copies of We’re Super Heroes.
A long day of matches and an exciting finals under their belts, both Sean and Jose brought their best and gave a great showing of the new format. Let’s dig a little deeper with the champion and get a closer peek into what it took to take down the Midwinter Classic 2024.
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Champion Interview with Sean “Keebler” Powell
What were the highlights of Midwinter Classic for you, besides being crowned the champion?
Well, I really loved just being at Midwinter! If you haven’t been to this event, you need to check it out. Even with the power going out for almost a full day in the “Northern Snowy Tundra”, it was still the best event ever. The feel of the community and getting to hang with my VS buddies is not only the highlight of Midwinter, but it’s the highlight of my year! It’s the event that I make sure I never ever miss. Getting to play with Ralph Edwards in person in the side events was awesome. I can’t wait until he can play in main events again. It’s been long enough. Let him play.
How do you feel your deck performed? What do you think went well and what do you think could have gone better?
I went 5-1 in swiss and then won out in the top 8. I think that’s the best I could ask for performance wise. The deck did pretty much exactly what it was designed to do.
The practiced lines worked really well in the matches against everyone with the exception of John Phillips’ Molecule Man and Mr. Ben’s Deadpool (Ralph Edwards Special™). These are matches that I wasn’t prepped for so there was a lot of plays and lines that I had to figure out on the fly.
I think I should have played against the FF no Zombie mirror in playtesting. We as a team didn’t test that at all and we really should have as it was evidently strong as proven by Jose Burrows’ extremely strong finish.
What do you think about the current Featured Format?
If I’m completely honest, this Enemy of my Zombie Enemy format is really tough to build for. In my current testing there are like 3 playable decks and 2/3 of those aren’t fun to play against. I’d love to see balancing happen in the Featured Formats. There are some cards in the pool that are just too strong in super limited formats. I love the idea of the format and the throwback to the Enemy of my Enemy card from the original game, but I have not found it easy to find multiple decks that are strong enough to contend with the big hitters of this format. (I’m not calling out what I believe to be the strong stuff… ya’ll gonna have to wait for Oklahoma in March to see what we think is the cream of the crop! Lol)
Why did you choose to play Mister Fantastic? Did you have any alternatives you were considering?
This deck was pretty much locked in after zombies were shown. They fit the deck perfectly and had really long names… like sooo many letters… what more could you ask for? (It made filling out the deck list take longer, but you leveled up on your third recruit almost 100% of the time! Lol) This was back in early to mid-December that Earl said “This is strong”. The rest of the play testing was learning lines and trying to find decks that we thought had more than a 50% chance of beating it. To be transparent, we thought Dormammu was going to be more represented and that had us thinking our chances were slimmer than they really were. (Props to Jamar Cole for playing the Anti-Buckeye Main Character!) I love playing against Jamar, but I am happy and lucky that I didn’t see that match up!
Did you have any spicy tech expecting certain decks to show up?
“The Book of Kobik”. Kobik and the Book of Vishanti were both houses in every game they were played in. I call them “Drobb’s Hamburgers and Noodles”! Not sure if the book is the burgers or the noodles but they are delicious either way! The main deck was all an Earl Teisort design with the spice added in by Drobb. (If Kobik gets incurred then I am gonna have to owe Burt a beverage, that’s his favorite card ever.)
What match stands out the most in your mind and why?
Finals. The Mirror. Against Jose Burrows coming off 2 straight power wins. See the next question.
You sit down in the finals… it’s the Mister Fantastic mirror. What are your first thoughts?
Glad I’m going first! My only loss of the day was to Jose in the swiss when I went second. I thought to myself I win the first game and give away the second game to try to win the third. I got the first game and then played the second game like I could only win if everything went my way. Surprisingly it did and I took it home. Jose is a TOUGH opponent; I don’t take those wins lightly at all. He’s for certain one of the very best.
Do you have any tournament day rituals or routines that you like to uphold?
I just try to have fun at events. My routine is to go around and reconnect with all my tournament family and let them know they mean a lot to me and that I love all of them. Then I make fun of them and give them hard times.
How do you make sure to stay focused over many games?
I’m not certain that I do! lol
Do you have any fun plans for the prize money?
Ill probably use it for gas to get to Oklahoma! Lol! It’s a long drive from Ohio to the flat lands
What does your competitive Vs. System® 2PCG® future hold?
Hopefully it holds much of the same. Fun times with my awesome friends in the VS community. Maybe Buckeye and Friends wins some games. Just being part of this community is a win.
What is your favorite aspect of the Vs. System® 2PCG® community?
The community is my favorite aspect of the VS. System® 2PCG®! The game is fun and challenging. It’s fun to go to big events and play for some money. But the people and the community make this game what it is. There’s fun online play in events run by community members. There are formats custom made for fun games. There are so many content creators making awesome quality content it’s kind of unbelievable.
What is your favorite Vs. System® 2PCG® card or go-to team?
My favorite card is the original underworld Venom Mc. Super fun to play and has some of the best artwork by none other than Sam Keith himself! Super awesome card!
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Incursion Destruction
After a tournament of this size and merit, it goes without saying that no card is safe from destruction! Here’s your Midwinter Classic 2024 update to the Destroyed Cards list. Hold on tight.
Changes at a Glance
- 2 added Main Characters (13 total)
- 9 added Supporting Characters (42 total)
- 3 added Plot Twists (9 total)
- 1 added Equipment
- 0 added Special Locations
Destroyed Cards
The following cards have been destroyed in the Incursion Format:
Main Characters
- Mister Fantastic FRF-007, FRF-008
- Galactus FFO-001
Supporting Characters
- Alicia Masters FAN-009
- Blastaar FAN-044
- Destroyer FND-013
- Lady Deathstrike THU-011
- Nightwatch VER-017
- Tony Stark CV4-006
- Valeria Richards FAN-012
- Zombie Hawkeye ZOM-011
- Zombie Stilt-Man ZOM-013
Equipment
- Book of the Vishanti SVH-058
Plot Twist
- Fantastic Four HER-019
- No Brains, No Problem ZOM-020
- Give in to the Hunger ZOM-021
You can find the complete Destroyed Card List here.
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With another awesome tournament in the books, a new champion crowned, and a spicy update to the destroyed cards list, that concludes my round up for the Midwinter Classic 2024! Thanks so much for reading and keep an eye out soon for news about the latest release for Vs. System® 2PCG®!
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