NBA Round Down: Just Ballin’ with My Thoughts

Well, its another NBA Finals on the horizon and it’s amazing that the Kobe-LeBron match-up didn’t happen since almost everyone thought it a sure thing! Oh well, maybe next year or maybe never. As for now it’s the Lakers-Magic Finals that may end up as one of the best NBA Finals in recent years or the worst finals in recent years excluding all the Finals the Spurs were in. (Yes, the Spurs are boring as hell, but they are efficient as hell too…)

I predict a very exciting finals though just because its an unlikely team that made it to the finals and that in itself excites me! I want to see how they handle the pressure and the intensity of playing in the Finals and hopefully Kobe & Co. bring their A-Game every game as they have a tendency to be overconfident like LeBron & the Cavs. So be ready Lakepeeps as the Magic will bring it for sure and since Hedo will most likely go somewhere else next year he ain’t letting this pass him by.

As for my Rockets, they were awesome and humble too in that 2nd round series with the Lakers except for Ron Artest of course. The rest were very humble and played great with heart & passion throughout the whole series. It’s just a bright future for the Rockets with Brooks, Landry, Scola, & hopefully Wafer in the fold, it’s just excites me to think of that great nucleus!

‘Till Next Time!!!

Finally 2nd Round Territory!!!! GOoooooo Roooockets!!!!!

It’s Finally happened! The Rockets won a playoff series!!!! Here come the Lakers though… I know this a different Rockets team compared to the regular season even if they went 0-4 against Kobe. Anyway whatever happens happens…. I’m just ecstatic!!!! They did it without McGrady too!!! I love my Rockets and I hope they do win a championship this year to shut up all critics including myself. GOooooo Rocketsssss!!!!!

VS SYSTEM IS OFFICIALLY OVER!!!

Its over…

Oh well…

I would like to say that I have had so much fun playing this game with all of you (well maybe not all..but let’s not talk about that). I would like to thank all of the people who have stayed true and stayed playing the game through casual and/or through tourneys as you gave hope to the hopeless and light to the dark.

I have always felt that the people that is left supporting the game and the hobby leagues have a closer connection than just playing VS System. I have always felt like friendships have developed overtime and regardless if the game is over we will still play VS System when time permits.

So I ask the people supporting the Galleria HL to still please come and play every Tuesday or at least play one last time next week for us to close a chapter in VS System Philippines Storyline.

So I ask the people I have played with these past years…. what do we play next?

Can the Houston Rockets win the NBA Championship? Steelers could be Super Bowl Champs!

Since I have blogged about VS System this whole time, I thought it would only be fair to talk about 2 of my favorite sports teams. First off are the Houston Rockets!

This team has won a couple of championship titles during 90s when Jordan went AWOL. I loved the fact that they were a defensive oriented team and played with a lot of heart. They also were the only team to take advantage of Jordan’s leave from the NBA which makes them probably the 2nd best team during the 90s. But in this decade, it has been a different story of sorts for my once “Heart of Champion” team.

So in this current NBA season we see a bunch of teams stepping up and the Rockets aren’t one of them, in fact they have underachieved. Sure, you could make the argument that they are riddled with injuries, but people & experts alike question the heart and intensity of their highest paid player: Tracy McGrady. He isn’t showing true leadership unlike Kobe, LeBron, or Captain America for crying out loud, even a an ogre like Shrek led a donkey, a pussycat, and a bunch of fairy tale characters to the promised land. If it weren’t for the efforts of Yao Ming and the improved play of Alston, Scola, Brooks, Landry, & my most improved player for the month of January ‘09 VON WAFER! (Did you know his real name is Vakeaton Quamar Wafer? Or Crispy Wafer to some hungry dude.)

In a week or more Ron Artest and McGrady will join the team again, but the team has been on a roll the past month since these two were injured. Realistically though… the Rockets need these two back and healthy to be able to win a championship. Of course the stats, numbers, & touches of the players currently carrying the load will most likely dip, the important thing is winning the whole thing. Look at the Celtics last year, they didn’t care about their stats, what’s important is winning the championship and it speaks about teamwork and sacrifice.

My answer to my question: NO… They will not will the championship this year. Sad as it may sound for me and other Rockets fans but its the hard cold truth. Will they get pass the 1^st round? Sure, I’m very confident they will and might reach the Western Conference Finals, but that’s it. So I basically watch the Rockets games on TV to just enjoy watching the team I love without anything in return… Awwwww…. how sweet… Yes it is… as long as they play hard, I’m happy. What the heck! Here’s hoping I ‘m wrong and an idiot!

The Pittsburgh Steelers on the other hand have won Super Bowls before, but since I enjoyed watching them in the 90s they have only won once which was a few years back. I was lucky to watch that Super Bowl run that whole season and in the playoffs as ESPN showed the Steelers a lot that year, probably because it was Jerome “The Bus” Bettis’ last year or maybe not. They have a very good chance of winning the Suppppaaaaa Bowl as their commitment to defense has shown especially the past few games. If Ben Roethlisberger can avoid getting blitz and hit in the game and Troy “My Man” Polamalu can help the offense by converting a few defensive interceptions into a TD, then its STEELERS baby STEELERS! Hopefully they can contain Kurt Warner of the Cardinals! Oh man, this guy can pass, he led the Rams to a few championships and he got a MVP trophy to boot. I thought his career would be over, but he resurrected his career nicely… so choke Warner! Choke! For the Steelers sake….

Go Steelers!

Go Rockets!

Go VS System! WTF!?

VS System Blog Next Up…

Drafting Marvel Universe (MUN)

So far there have been 3 MUN drafts in XP and it has been pretty cool. This blogger has placed 1st on the first & third drafts and 2nd on the second draft (did you follow the formatting?). The interesting thing with all the drafts so far is the teams that I have been picking have been the same since day 1. So I guess that my consistent picks is a winning or  competitive combination in draft, I honestly don’t know about sealed but limited play is limited play I always say.

As for the teams I pick, here they are: Crime Lords & Thunderbolts with a little Shield on the side. I pick these teams for their offensive & defensive tricks, with Thunderbolts as the offense & Crime Lords as the defensive. I honestly don’t pick alot of Shield but I love their Team-UP, Double Agent!. It gives you four (4) life just for teaming up, hard to pass that up if I must say given the limited plot twist cards out there to modify your character’s defensive numbers to avoid being stunned or stunned back. So there are alot of times you have similar life counts if attacking up the curve is not an option. With that being said, let me present to you the list of characters I would use with my first few picks:

1. Red Skull, Johann Shmidt – HYDRA

This character can split your head in many ways with his burning and defensive abilities. He can burn you on and off initiative if you play him right. He can also give you a headache with who to attack first especially with the number of defensive & recovery tricks that can be played. His pal Baron Strucker isn’t that bad either.

2. Any 2 or 3 Drop of Thunderbolts

This group of characters can go a long way to make your opponent go crazy because as turns go by they get better. These characters help you attack up the curve and improve your board control. They aren’t the right characters to get the stuff done, but they got “The Wrong Stuff”…wink wink (cheesy I have to say)

3. A.I.M Agents

You read it, A.I.M Agents people! A.I.M Agents! They are the wimpiest bunch of bitches but they get the job done. What job you say? Well that’s getting behind your characters and reinforcing them which by the way works well in saving you life and triggering effects like …

4. Baron Strucker, Baron Wolfgang Von Strucker – HYDRA

This guy is a walking defensive recovery that enables you to protect your board and can potentially win you the game. Imagine him in front of Red Skull while defending and your opponent has to go through him to get to Red over there in the support row, Ka-Booooooommmmmm!!!!!! potential twelve (12) points of damage heading your opponents way!  Baron Gangbang Von F@(k#r FTW!!!!!

5. Master Man, Max Lohmer – Raid & Kingpin, War Profiteer – HYDRA

If and when any of these cards come your way, snatch ‘em up people!!! These are awesome, once again awesome defensive character cards that can cause panic at the very least to your opponent.  If your opponent doesn’t have an attack pump then Master Man has a huge advantage and if your opponent fears that even he has stunned Kingpin that you may recover him with an effect. These are priceless looks that can make you smile even if you loose the match as like I said, “A look of panic is a consolation price”, if you ask me.

As for the Plot Twist…

1. Team -Ups Are Needed!

Team-Ups are a necessity in limited play unless you’re a lucky bunch of baloney! Anyway, just think of attacking up the curve, let’s say you have a 2 & 3 Drop and you wanna team attack a 4 Drop your opponent has…but wait… they ain’t teamed-up… Doh!!!! See, if you had drafted enough team-ups it wouldn’t be as frustrating, finding the correct team-up is another thing though.

2. Late Game Pumps

These two pumps can be used anytime but I prefer to use them in late game scenarios as wasting pumps early on can bite you bad in the long run. But if you gotta use it you gotta use it, or is that if you have to go you have to go? Whatever. Using these cards late game magnifies your characters stats in great ways, like having your 6 Drop a 7 Drop for 1 attack then Now I’m Fighting Dirty will enable that for you. How about giving your characters a +2 attack in a sense? Then Collateral Damage gives you that for just throwing your hand away, in the end it might not be so much of a cost.

The rest of the picks you get should be team specific and helpful. Don’t just get a team specific Plot Twist or Location just because they say Avengers on them and you’re building an Avengers deck. It may not work in the grand scheme of things and you will just be wasting a pick like say a drop that can help you since you should have enough team-ups to make it work.

As for generic locations and  equipment, there aren’t a lot of good cards to actually help you that much in draft, but if you want to get some just to fill a  space then its not the right mindset going into deck building. One thing I notice in limited play is that continuity and cohesion between cards you have can give you a great chance to actually win a lot of games or the whole thing!!!

What teams would you draft in MUN?

Top 10 VS System Character Cards (Rare Only)

10. Mr. Mxyzptlk

Need to discard any card for any payment cost? Then this “Fifth Dimension Stud” can answer most of your problems. He can be discarded twice a turn if you play it right and can save you on the headache of choosing which card to discard!

9. Rogue, Power Absorption

I can’t leave MOR out of this list, so I picked the card which is the most used from MOR. This card enables you to combo with a lot of decks and gives you the ability to double the fun of any activated shit you want to cause your opponent or double your ability advantage. Wanna burn your opponent twice? Wanna look for a location twice? This is the card for you.

8. Alan Scott, Golden Age Engineer

This card can give you a lot of possibilities during your attack step and especially during your opponents’ attack step. Imagine having Alan Scott and Rogue and/or Mimic, if you have this on your board then basically you can have infinite defenders unless your opponent has a KO effect, return to hand or stun effect to counter it. If all goes according to plan, your other characters will be thanking you for giving them the best buddy they ever had while in combat.

7. Spider-Man, Ultimates

Spider-Stall is irritating! Spider-Heralds is sucking the fun out of attacking your opponent! Spider-Man cards stall the crap out off the game! Well, well, well… here is another Spider-Man to make you go, “I will just get something from 7/11, ‘coz I don’t wanna stare at your face for 30 minutes..”, Match Win for you!!! Spider-Clones is the best fit for this card and every time you put a look-a-like down it gets web-counters which you can use whenever you want. You can abuse Substitute with this ability and you can have two of these suckers down and have four counters every time a Spidey comes down. Okay off-curve, get ready to be bored!

6. Juggernaut, Weapon of Mass Destruction

Playing a slow deck? A deck that needs the 7th, 8th, or 9th turn to win? Tough! This beast of a character takes out your team-ups, your… what did you say? You have two team-ups? Sorry, I want the other one too bitch! As I was saying, ahem…. your two critical resources that can be any combination of an Ongoing PT or a Location, or your two precious resources that can get you to your kill turn. I have had my fair share of playing against this character and I can tell you, I hate him. I Hate Youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!!!!!

5. Poison Ivy, Deadly Rose

Outside of Ahmed this little lady can bring you to anywhere you wanna be. Wanna go to the Slaughter Swamp? She can bring you there. Wanna wine & dine at the Bat-Cave? She can make it happen. All for the price of a character. A steep price you say? Well, Haywire can help you out. Charaxes can die for you if you recruit a 5-Drop or higher. Since MUN came out, you can now use Quicksilver as your slave for a while and then KO him like the ragdoll that he is.

4. Iron Man, Mighty Avenger

Okay, let’s say you can’t live without all of your characters and you don’t wanna lose anyone of them as they are all critical to you winning. This card can bring them all back to you plus a +1/+1 counter to boot as he really loves you for playing him, since we all know Mr. Stark loves the spotlight. With all the recovery tricks out there, he can most likely be recovered and recover others as well. So board control with this card is almost assured as long as he’s not drunk again.

3. Superman, Last Son of Krypton

Invulnerability without actually having it printed on the card is awesome! No Cost so that it can’t be exhausted by most Spider-Men, that’s awesome! A card that looks like Brandon Routh? Awesome! Nuff’ Said!

2. Talia, Daughter of Madness

Broken?!?! Close… but not quite yet, unless UDE makes a 2-Drop that’s 25/25 and it’s ability is “This character cannot be recuited but can only be Put Into Play. This card cannot be targeted by opposing effects. Whenever this character attacks an opposing character, that character loses reinforcement.” Then this can be considered broken… Umm… If there was a 2-Drop like that, that might be my number 1 or 2 so I guess Talia might be bumped to 3 or something. But since there isn’t a character like that… here is my Numero Uno…

1. Batman, Cape & Cowl

This is my favorite character card from the world of VS for the fact that it can stomp Spider-Man’s abilities, counter Ahmed’s searching skills, and even prevent an Avalon or a Swamp from getting  you a KO’ed character you need. It can prevent multiple ability uses and can be either conceled or visible. It still is a draft pick favorite when choosing prizes after a Tourney or HL. So overall this can make your opponents either miss a drop or not pull off a combo or whatever, but imagine this for a while… Playing against a Batman & Spider-Man deck… Me? I would rather go stangle myself and puke all over the place than play for half an hour against a deck like that!

Excelsior!!! Nuff’ Said!

Hello world!

This is the start of my wordpress blog, but this isn’t my 1st blog. I started out last year at my multiply site andrewfrancisco.multiply.com

I will get this going in a while, hope you like reading my posts.