Into the Salt Mines! An LVO Qualifier Battle Report

I recently attended SaltCity GT, another LVO qualifier, in the hopes of securing my spot for next year's invitational. 

This time around, I have a mostly midrange team, consisting of 3's and 4's which I can pick from depending on the matchup and crisis combination.

Core

Storm: The usual leader of the X-Men, her leadership makes X-Men one of the best extract teams in the game thanks to the additional mobility from the jump and durability thanks to Cover.

Beast, Domino, X-23, Logan, Psylocke and Rogue serve as my affiliated characters. Most of them bring high mobility, durability and unique effects (like Probability Manipulation on Domino and Mutant Absorbtion on Rogue).

Tech

Mystique: She occupies a niche in X-Men thanks to a pretty unique combination of abilities. With her long move, she can serve as an early scenario piece on F shaped scenarios to steal an opposing extract. The combination of Martial Artist and Cover makes her surprisingly resilient, and she can, when needed, destroy terrain. Finally, she brings her signature Team Tactics Card Deception, which lets you control a model's positioning. 

Pyro: Both a solid control piece thanks to Firewall and a good damage dealer, Pyro serves as a pick to help deal with models that are hard to control for the affiliated X-Men.

Doctor Voodoo: He's one of the prime scenario centric characters in the game. Possession can stop models from interacting with objectives and can let you steal extracts from models that are harder to remove from the board.

Games

Game #1: X-Men vs Shield, Infinity Formula/Cubes (17)

Teams: Storm, Beast, Logan, Mystique, Doctor Voodoo vs Nick Fury Jr, Hawkeye, Agent Venom, Hulk

For the first game, since I didn't have priority, I choose Mystique and Beast to take one of my opponent's Cubes and bring it back to my side of the board, with Logan and Voodoo to exert pressure on the rest of their team. From their list, I was also expecting Hulk, but chose to pick a squad that was more proactive and less controlling which, in hindsight, proved to be a mistake. My opponent, also being well practiced into X-Men, identified that they needed to pivot their models early. Unfortunately for me, I made some sequencing errors and played into what my opponent wanted, so they managed to take back the extracts I had stolen and take the advantage on attrition. I end up losing the game 14-17 on round 4.

Game #2: X-Men vs A-Force, Infinity Formula/Spider-Infected (17)

Teams: Storm, Beast, X-23, Rogue, Psylocke vs She-Hulk, Spider-Woman, Black Cat, Rogue

In the second game, I had priority so I knew my opponent would have to go after me if they wanted to overcome my advantage on extracts. With them deploying Black Cat and She-Hulk on the same flank, I chose to pivot away from them and not give Black Cat more power if I could avoid it. With a lot of my characters on the same side of the board, away from Black Cat,  I could control their Spider-Woman and consolidate my lead, winning the game 16-11 on round 3.

Game #3: X-Men vs Brotherhood, Spider-Portals/Legacy Virus (18)

Teams: Storm, Beast, Logan, Rogue, Doctor Voodoo vs Magneto, Sabertooth, Apex Predator, Quicksilver, Pyro, Toad

Since we were playing on Spider-Portals, I assumed my opponent would bring a relatively mobile squad under Mystique to offset the crisis shape, so I went with a squad that could play the scenario well, and Rogue to try and use Mutant Absorbtion to lessen either Juggernaut or Apex Predator's impact which I was expecting to see. I was surprised when my opponent deploying Magneto on Spider-Portals, as the D shape is usually the one where the impact of his kit tends to be more limited. I expected this game to be easier than it ended up being, thanks to some unfortunate Portal flips on my end and some surprisingly good ones from my opponent, giving them a good leg into what looked like a disadvantageous scenario for them. I end up taking the win with a final score of 18-16 on round 5.

Game #4: X-Men vs Convocation, Infinity Formula/Hammers (18)

Teams: Storm, Domino, Psylocke, Rogue, Doctor Voodoo vs Dr. Strange, Sorcerer Supreme, Baron Mordo, Doctor Voodoo and Ebony Maw (Space Gem).

Since Convocation is such a flexible affiliation, I wasn't sure what I would be facing. I assumed I would see Doctor Voodoo and one of the two 6 threats in my opponent's list (the other one being Hulk). As for the rest, it was up to them. We trade some very effective attacks on round 2, which leaves both our Doctor Voodoo dazed and keeps us tied on VPs. My opponent breaks parity on extracts on round 3 by dazing my Storm, which does let me take an attrition lead by dazing both his Dr. Strange and Baron Mordo. On round 4 I manage to KO both Doctor Strange and Mordo to take back a scenario advantage which forces both our Doctor Voodoo to deny the other player VPs and for the game a round longer but leaves me trailing behind on VPs. Thankfully, being ahead on attrition and with only 2 models on the board, I manage to take the win by dazing Ebony Maw and Possessing the opposite Doctor Voodoo, winning a very close game 17-15.

Game #5: X-Men vs Hydra, Spider-Portals/Hammers (18)

Teams: Storm, X-23, Logan, Psylocke, Doctor Voodoo vs Red Skull, Master of Hydra, Spider-Woman, Winter Soldier, Hulk

With this scenario combination, I was expecting Sleeper Agent Hulk, Spider-Woman and Zemo from my opponent, to have a mobile attrition team with high mobility. So I chose a team that could do a similar job. I was very glad to have Psylocke against Red Skull, Master of Hydra as her builder and martial artist make her an excellent choice against him. On round 1, I set up Storm as a pivot for Psylocke, to be able to double tap a model if they get displaced by a side portal while still being able to pick a hammer, which, luckily for me, happens when Red Skull flipped a portal on a flank. Dazing Red Skull, picking up his hammer and both side portals gives me a commanding lead of 6-2 on round 1. Into round 2, Red Skull fails to daze Psylocke, which leaves her with 2 hammers to KO Red Skull, which solidifies my lead, I end up winning the game 20-12 on round 4.

Overall, I'm pretty satisfied with my performance at the event. I think Psylocke's kit and relevance in this run made me appreciate the kit she brings in X-Men a lot, as a mobile bruiser with a solid consistency both offensively and defensively. Mystique was the opposite, she rarely felt like the right character to bring in a lot of scenarios, so I think I will be looking to replace her for another model that fits a certain niche or that can help me against certain models or match up better. I'll be exploring my options going forward, but I like where most of the list lands in the current meta. I would like to take the time to thank the organizers and TO for running a pretty smooth and friendly event, as well as the players participating, it was very fun to attend.

Thank you for taking the time to read this piece, and as always, don't forget to have fun!