High Meta Tourney quarter final - Supermutant vs Deathslash
Rules:
No prep
Standard Equipment
BFR with no possibility of returning in a reasonable time is a loss
Opening + 2 posts
Posters are in full control of the characters
Arena:
Opponents start at opposite corners of the ring on the ground.
You can leave the ring/fly/use environment.
Deadline for all the posts: next Friday.
Supermutant opening post:
What we have here Ladies and Gentlemen, is a rare opportunity for one of the fighters in this battlezone to break down the match in his/her own words.
Psylocke stated it best, “Sinister knows us. He’s studied us! And he’s immensely powerful. He seems to be impervious to our powers...and able to counter any attack".
Yes she said “us” as in a team of X-men and X-factor which included Cyclops, Storm, Colossus, Wolverine, Jean Grey, Beast, Archangel, Rogue, Havok, Dazzler, and still others, but I’m sure you get the point. Believe me more on that latter.
So we basically have an X-men Team Wrecker vs an X-men Team Member. No two ways about it. Now I know that Psylocke has gotten better over the years but so has Sinister.
The easiest way to take care of Betsy is with a simple forum BFR via teleportation. She's not a teleporter and has no defense against such on her own. So the match starts and immediately Sinister teleports her to his kingdom, Sinister's London. Teleporting examples first a large group, then porting to Daken and tearing of his arm before he can react.
https://i.imgur.com/OJbvUEQ.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/dxfqmwG.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/0o33W70.jpg
Sinister's London is deep beneath the Earth surface and made up entirely of his clones. So, Bye Bye Betsy, she definitely not making it back to the battlefield anytime soon, if at all.
https://i.imgur.com/vMPWZaz.jpg
If for some reason the initial teleport doesn't work, then the fun really begins as Sinister will immediately begin his mental assault. Sinister has already defeated Psylocke by locking her in the astral plane while destroying Jean Grey's memories. So he defeated both of them simultaneously with psychic attacks.
https://imgur.com/s95WdrN
https://imgur.com/F1rBbMN
https://imgur.com/GsQWhY2
He defeated Psylocke again this time by resisting her TP ambush, and 1-shotting her with a blast.
https://imgur.com/VrQ5Vrj
So just to reiterate, Sinister has already defeated Psylocke on the astral plane, casually resisted her tp and 1-shot koed her another time. He did this while fighting another psychic in Jean and two squads of X-men. She is going down hard in a psychic battle against him.
More evidence of Sinister vast mental powers. He has blocked Emma Frost's TP on multiple occasions.
https://i.imgur.com/z4qcAzS.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/4z9wnZ4.jpg
Hope with Magik & Emma's powers couldn't stop Sinister with TP.
https://imgur.com/DaZKy60
Sinister re-channeled Nate Grey's psionic energy at sends it back at him and X-Factor 10-fold.
https://imgur.com/HqeKAN1
Exodus basically list the five most powerful telepaths as Sinister, Pro X, Phoenix, Emma, and himself. Notice that Betsy is not on that list.
https://imgur.com/HqeKAN1
While teen Jean can forcefully and painfully remove Psylocke from her mind.
https://i.imgur.com/Jy7p5oG.jpg
That should suffice for now showing that Mr. Sinister is just too strong, too versatile with his TP alone for Psylocke not to mention his other powers.
Sinister is better with TK as well, notice how he blocks four different types of blasts at the same time including Jean's tk.
Sinister has also easily beaten the External Candra who has vast TK powers. And he didn't even use TK against her just his cellular structure control and shape-shifting.
Candra tearing people apart with TK.
https://i.imgur.com/IM38jZp.jpg
Sinister vs Candra
https://i.imgur.com/MlZ2I6i.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/EzOA05i.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/UAjen4p.jpg
Psylocke's TK is not more powerful than Candra or Sinister's and he has multiple ways to easily defeat it.
Psylocke's psychic knife/blade is her only attack that may harm Sinister. But first she will never have a chance to use it. Either b/c of teleportation or mentally koed by Sinister. Furthermore, he can instantly teleport even before a point blank gun shot.
https://i.imgur.com/bp0TFO3.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/v6Maj16.jpg
Secondly, Sinister has complete control over his cellular structure, so there is much doubt how effective her psychic knife would even be. He beat Cap Britain after his head was cut completely off.
https://i.imgur.com/dpTwdnc.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/0H4R44j.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/mO0hs7Z.jpg
Thirdly, it has been parried/blocked/deflected with just normal swords/weapons before.
https://i.imgur.com/rn65yq2.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/pQbcYP1.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/C4fo0QA.jpg
Lastly, Sinister will make her use it against herself. Psylocke has been mind-controlled a couple of times by others, less powerful than Sinister.
And notice her Emma has to go in diamond form to resist Sinister's mind-control. While Storm, Cyclops, Magik, Colossusnaut, and the very stubborn Namor all become victims to his TP.
https://i.imgur.com/8lFSZwB.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/OJPgUNy.jpg
So again lets ask Psylocke if she can win this:
Deathslash's opening post:
Alright, I guess time that I got serious and put in my tournament submission.
For this round, it's Psylocke vs Mr Sinister and I have to say, it could go either way. Sinister is an incredibly powerful psychic, but I don't think he has what it takes to put down Betsy. Here's what my plan is as well as why he can't beat me.
The first thing that I'm going to do is mount a serious telepathic assault against him. Power isn't necessarily what matters, just skill and speed and because of Sinister's durability, I think that tp is my best option.
First, I'll telepathically shut down his tk ensuring that he can't mount any real physical offense against me as I battle him using tp.
https://static.comicvine.com/uploads/original/12/125392/3788812-x-men242_12b.jpg
His mental defenses may be strong, but dealing with strong resistance is something that Psylocke is used to.
https://m.imgur.com/gbzfQaS
https://m.imgur.com/CHdnrEH
https://m.imgur.com/DQzGZIT
Please note that that was the very same version of Archangel that easily owned AoA Jean Grey while she was in full possession of the Phoenix Force.
https://m.imgur.com/mDv4Ju4
I'm going to shut down his mind and make him lose consciousness.
https://m.imgur.com/LXCnjni
If this does get physical, I have a very serious edge in overall power. Sinister has what, like ten tp feats and a few nice energy feats? Psylocke has much better tk than him. Matter of fact, her tk is more powerful that a host of the Phoenix.
https://m.imgur.com/2PIV16F
https://m.imgur.com/OC9FA3v
Quick correction the right scan is below for the following
Exodus basically list the five most powerful telepaths as Sinister, Pro X, Phoenix, Emma, and himself. Notice that Betsy is not on that list.
Now judges please pay attention to Deathslash's plan:
The first thing that I'm going to do is mount a serious telepathic assault against him.
lol He is going to have Psylocke engage against Sinister in tp at the start, when Sinister has previously casually resisted her tp and 1-shotted her. Not to mention another occasion where Sinister trapped her in the astral plane, and dominated her with tp, while erasing Jean's memories simultaneously.
But hey thanks, Sinister will re-channel Psylocke’s telepathic assault back at her tenfold and ko her. Just like he did to the much more powerful psychic Nate Grey and X-Force.
https://i.imgur.com/HqeKAN1.png
https://i.imgur.com/rLmKLJZ.jpg
Also notice judges that Deasthslash didn't even mention his best attack at all, the psychic knife. I wonder if he would have mentioned it at any point in this battle, had I not already brought it up by countering/defending against it.
Regarding the Cassandra Nova scan, it was pretty clear that Cassandra was significantly above Psylocke in telepathy. Cassandra was blocking all TP throughout the Los Angeles, including Psylocke and Emma.
https://postimg.org/image/jqb1nmhhp/
https://postimg.org/image/6ao0y68zx/
When they fought, Cassandra KO'd her pretty handily too, preserving Betsy's body for a ritual.
https://postimg.org/image/3um7kbqx9/
https://postimg.org/image/t1x3kku19/
https://postimg.org/image/61v1lzll9/
After Deasthslash’s scan the next page shows that Psylocke only fused Cass to the new body, so that she could physically stab her with a normal sword. It was made abundantly clear that Cass is very superior to Psylocke in tp.
https://postimg.org/image/590121xyb/
Regarding the Juggernaut scan, here is the part Deathslash left out.
So yeah Betsy should get some props for even being able to affect Cain thru his helmet, but all it did was buy her like 1 second lol. Juggy was completely fine after an extremely brief stun moment. He didn't even let go of her.
Here is another encounter where Juggy is very weaken thanks to Onslaught. Psylocke's knife gets through his helmet albeit again for a very brief time. She ends up koed from the psychic backlash lol for her efforts while Juggy is not harmed.
Also when Psylocke stopped Jean from using her tk, Jean didn’t even have tp. She got it back in the next issue when Jean and Madelyne joined consciousness.
https://i.imgur.com/CRjGl0N.jpg
Sinister has a far greater chance of shutting down Psylocke’s power than vise versa. He already done it to a much more powerful psychic in X-Man Nate and to Sunspot.
https://imgur.com/a/sYMMo
https://i.imgur.com/JF7Xivt.jpg
And far greater likelihood of making Besty take a nap like Domino. Bedtime for baby.
https://i.imgur.com/eAEvIi8.jpg
Rachel Grey wasn’t possessed by the Phoenix when she couldn’t match Psylocke’s tk, but Storm’s lightning alone seemed more than a match. Your last scan is irrelevant as Sinister’s tk is better than Rachel and Psylocke’s. Plus he has beaten more powerful TK users such as External Candra and Jean Grey.
Deathslash stated:
If this does get physical, I have a very serious edge in overall power.
😆 Psylocke is the very definition of a glass cannon. Sinister previously 1-shot blast koed her. Boom Boom has done it.
Some no name generic villain after she ambushed him, has done it.
Meanwhile Sinister has 1-shotted the High Evolutionary.
https://i.imgur.com/dn9Cux2.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/UgkLVDK.jpg
And easily tanks Rogue, Colossus, and Wolverine combine attacks then owned them casually.
Sinister has complete control of his cellular structure and possess an awesome healing factor that is much better than Wolverine's. Which allows him to do things like take an optic blast from Cyclops, that leaves most of his midsection gone without any damage. He doesn't even stop talking. lol
https://i.imgur.com/AWOw40f.jpg
Compare that to Psylocke who gets taken down by a normal karate chop.
https://i.imgur.com/icpDvGC.jpg
She gets stomped physically. Let's just say Besty is able to hold her own in TP, she still has no answer for Sinister's teleporting, or his TK, or his physical stats, or his energy blasts, or his cellular shapeshifting combine with a healing factor. She is just out-matched and Deathslash got a tough draw. Sinister & Psylocke for most of their history operates at different levels of power. Again team wrecker vs team member. For instance Sabretooth is nothing more than Sinister's lackey.
https://i.imgur.com/Iu5c5Oj.jpg
https://imgur.com/V6gTrT4
However Sabertooth has defeated Psylocke on multiple occasions even resisting her psychic knife, and basically killing her.
https://imgur.com/a/wr9Lv
In the end Sinister will leave Psylocke broken physically and mentally.
Alright, so I finally have a full day off of work. Before we get started, I wanted to thank you guys for patiently waiting and going with my (limited) schedule. Let's get to the debate now.
Right off the bat, Supermutant plays with words while cherry picking the phrases that suit him. Psylocke is saying that Sinister has studied all of the X-men, but that doesn't mean he's a team wrecker on his own. If anything, mutant is showing a scan of Psylocke saying that Sinister has prepped for them.
This is true team wrecking.
https://m.imgur.com/30Fo3et
This is team wrecking.
https://m.imgur.com/jdzMj8A
This is a statement on the preparedness of your enemy.
https://i.imgur.com/vzJ3M9Rl.jpg
And so begins the no limits fallacy. I ask you, how far did Sinister teleport with his henchmen? Has he ever teleported someone beneath the Earth's crust in another country? Out of the two examples of him teleporting, why does the first one show him and the rest of his group glowing and emitting light while the second set of scans is clearly a different way of teleporting?
*Makes statement the Betsy has clearly grown in power.
*Several sentences later, uses scans from forty years ago to show how he wins.
*SMDH
Betsy has gotten a major upgrade since the days when every third telepath could chump her.
https://m.imgur.com/TTms59k
Again, here is a direct comparison of her vs a Phoenix Force amped Jean.
Jean:
https://m.imgur.com/mDv4Ju4
Betsy:
https://m.imgur.com/CHdnrEH
https://m.imgur.com/z3B7kSq
The scan of Betsy losing was back during Inferno. Wasn't Jean only telekinetic at that time?
Emma does not have the raw telepathic power of Betsy and it's debatable whether she's more skilled.
Hope certainly doesn't have even half of the skill in tp that Betsy has and even then sinister said that he couldn't beat her. Notice Sinister's words. "We can't outmuscle one another"
https://imgur.com/DaZKy60
Good thing I'm not trying to read supermutant's mind or I might be in trouble. I'm just shutting it down.
Wrong scans here so I'll just move on to debunking the next point.
An all out Jean grey vs a not even fighting psylocke. Much wow.
Good for sinister blocking attacks from four characters. Too bad he has no real statements regarding his prowess with tk, unlike Betsy.
https://m.imgur.com/PqoIoLf
https://m.imgur.com/jIOr6rf
Psylocke certainly has similar power as far as defense and offense go and has been explicitly stated to be above a host of the Phoenix Force as far as tk goes.
https://m.imgur.com/OC9FA3v
https://m.imgur.com/zUmtF8c
https://m.imgur.com/2PIV16F
Is tearing nameless fodder apart above Psylocke's pay grade now?
By the way, Betsy operates at the molecular level. How good was Candra again?
https://static.comicvine.com/uploads/original/12/125392/3792480-exiles+093+03.jpg
So, essentially mutant thinks that he'll teleport me out of the fight with his non-existent feats of teleporting opponents (let alone over a distance that vast). Or that he'll take me out with tp with his feats from decades prior to Psylocke's upgrades. Let's continue shall we?
........Sinister didn't teleport, he just shot himself in the head and his body fell to the ground, hence why namor and Cyclops are both looking at the place where his corpse is. That was a truly sad attempt to make it look like he has speed feats.
On a side note, the look on Storm's face in the last scan is hilarious. The smug grin 😂
https://m.imgur.com/v6Maj16
Just want to take a moment to debunk the following statement.
"Secondly, Sinister has complete control over his cellular structure, so there is much doubt how effective her psychic knife would even be."
Supermutant would have you believe that sinister doesn't operate as a normal human does, but just recently, Storm easily fried his brain.
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GUhn5ZdU_W0/VNxZW3IWG3I/AAAAAAAH_V4/mIntMH_ODko/s1600/p82_10.jpg
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zcAVqZXBRbY/VNxZZdxDjGI/AAAAAAAH_WY/YhC0OfieFl0/s1600/p82_16.jpg
I think it's safe to say that Psylocke can do similar whether it's with her tp or psychic knife, she can achieve a similar effect.
https://m.imgur.com/LXCnjni
https://static.comicvine.com/uploads/original/12/125392/3788826-x-men243_13a.jpg
https://m.imgur.com/rvuS3bG
What he has neglected to tell you about this next set of scans is that it's from Secret Wars 2. That comic is every bit as canon to the characters that didn't survive it (Sinister) as an Elseworlds is to the characters from Earth one.
None of those were psychic knives, they were all telekinetic Katanas. There's a distinct difference between this:
https://m.imgur.com/dZALQgC
And this:
https://static.comicvine.com/uploads/original/12/125392/3790779-x-men385_16a.jpg
One is physical and the other is mental.
Also, Betsy doesn't have to run up to hit him with a katana, she can throw tk knives.
https://m.imgur.com/1477hM3
Hell, it's not even like Sinister has the skill required to keep her from putting the psychic knife in his head.
https://m.imgur.com/LuOob2X
https://m.imgur.com/a/UO1kq
He doesn't have the speed or agility required to keep from getting owned.
https://m.imgur.com/1hizVuc
Oh boy, is it lowballing time already? I have a doozy!
https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/marveldatabase/images/8/8b/Nathaniel_Essex_%28Earth-616%29_Death.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20080118025348
https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/marveldatabase/images/a/a4/Nathaniel_Essex_%28Earth-616%29_Death_2.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20080118024900
Such power, intellect, and cellular control! He's totally dominating that quickly congealing pool of blood.
So, guys, do you think that Sinister has a snowball's chance in hell of winning?
Supermutant final post: [quoting didn't work, did it by hand, hopefully didn't miss anything
quote: (post)
Originally posted by deathslash
Right off the bat, Supermutant plays with words while cherry picking the phrases that suit him. Psylocke is saying that Sinister has studied all of the X-men, but that doesn't mean he's a team wrecker on his own. If anything, mutant is showing a scan of Psylocke saying that Sinister has prepped for them.This is true team wrecking.
https://m.imgur.com/30Fo3et
This is team wrecking.
https://m.imgur.com/jdzMj8AThis is a statement on the preparedness of your enemy.
https://i.imgur.com/vzJ3M9Rl.jpg
So according to DS, Sinister stomping 2 teams of X-men & X-factor simultaneously doesn’t make him a team wrecker. But Psylocke momentarily getting an upper-hand on just two X-men by using Colossus makes her a team wrecker.lol I can’t even take this logic seriously, and judges you really shouldn’t as well. Also notice how easily Nightcrawler was able to grab and teleport her. Not to mention using TP on non-TP users just to run away from the Cap Britain Corps is suppose to be “team wrecking.”
So DS and judges what exactly did Sinister use as prep here? Was it some piece of tech/equipment that allowed him to wreck the X-men and X-factor? Was it some rare power up item/device? Of course not he just stomped them hard with his own normal level of power. There isn’t any special circumstance or reason that he couldn’t do the exact same thing in the battle against just one X-men member, who he has already wrecked twice while she had much help. And yes I completely agree with the sentiment from that DS that Sinister will be 100% prepared and ready for anything she may do.
Here is much of the Inferno battle in order, so much impressive stuff from Sinister that it hard to list it all. But according to DS, he is not a team wrecker lol. From completely tanking with his back turn a direct blood-lusted blast from Havok, willing himself to controlling Rogue mind and body after she attempted to absorb him, then returning his consciousness to his own body, to stopping Cyclops from even being able to use his optic blasts. And much more stuff I already touch on but if this isn’t team wrecking then team wrecking doesn’t exist in comics. And it’s not like this in the one and only time, because when Sinister usually shows up in a comic it is to wreck a team. I have already shown many scans from such occasions such as with Nate Grey and X-force or a number of X-men teams.
Originally posted by deathslash
And so begins the no limits fallacy. I ask you, how far did Sinister teleport with his henchmen? Has he ever teleported someone beneath the Earth's crust in another country? Out of the two examples of him teleporting, why does the first one show him and the rest of his group glowing and emitting light while the second set of scans is clearly a different way of teleporting?
So in other words, Psylocke has no defense to Sinister porting her away. Where exactly is this no limit fallacy, when Sinister has easily and quickly teleported an entire freaking museum? And teleported himself after a triggered has been pulled on a gun from point blank range.
Sinister can always teleport to his labs no matter where they are out. It makes no difference whether he uses a device or his own power, because in almost everyone one of his appearances he either ports somewhere or ports somebody somewhere. So it would definitely classify as standard equipment. Which means Psylocke gets teleported to Sinister’s lab in Sinister London as mentioned previously, nothing DS stated has changed that outcome.
https://i.imgur.com/c6soEOK.jpg
Originally posted by deathslash
*Makes statement the Betsy has clearly grown in power.
*Several sentences later, uses scans from forty years ago to show how he wins.
*SMDH
She has gotten better from her early appearances as have all the X-men. For instance, Iceman could only throw ice balls in the beginning lol. Means little here as Sinister has continued to be a team wrecker. I have shown scans from every era to show how Sinister wins because simply his averages are way better than hers and even his lows are better than most of her high end feats.
When Archangel took on AOA Jean he had the death seed and full powers of Apocalypse as his heir. Psylocke fought Archangel who didn’t yet have accessed to Apocalypse powers. When Apocalypse powers were just growing in Archangel, Psylocke couldn’t even read his mind. So, no Psylocke doesn’t compare to AOA Jean at all, and she isn’t even able to use TP on Archangel when the Warren personality is not dominant.
https://i.imgur.com/XWrtNzI.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/jdQzTs1.png
But since you brought up the Phoenix, Jean had to go into Dark Phoenix mode just to stop Sinister from wiping her mind.
https://i.imgur.com/sMejxPY.jpg
Originally posted by deathslash
Good thing I'm not trying to read supermutant's mind or I might be in trouble. I'm just shutting it down.
You are still in trouble, you know it’s much easier to read another’s mind than to shut it down lol. So you are attempting a much higher degree of difficulty with that attack against someone who has already locked you in the astral plane and koed you mentally. Someone who has taken over Pro. X’s mind and body, someone who has used tp to hurt the Juggernaut and didn’t suffer a psychic feedback ko, someone who has stalemated Emma Frost in tp multiple times.
Meanwhile, Psylocke can’t even break through psionic cloaking from Shield tech. Yeah Sinister mental defenses are way better than Shield’s. I have already shown the scan where Exodus states that Sinister is a top 5 telepath.
https://i.imgur.com/CcB9ik7.jpg
Sinister has other instances besides Secret War where he has taken major damage w/o any lasting injuries. In Extraordinary X-Men he detaches his own head and puts in on a new body and then owns Colossus in h2h.
So yeah what Sinister did in Secret Wars w/out a head he had done similar in other comics as well. Besides that he has been unaffected by a giant hole blown in his head.
Now moving on too Cyclops and Storm, both who have much better energy projection than Psylocke. The last image shown by DS has long since been retcon that Sinister just wanted Cyke and the X-Men to believe he was dead.
https://i.imgur.com/AWOw40f.jpg
As you can see again since then Sinister has easily withstood Cyke and Storm’s blast with no lasting damage. Not too mention his TK shields that have easily block said attacks time and time again. So he basically tanks point blank optic blasts twice, lightning, and ice beams in quick succession, and then responds by easily stunning the mind of several X-men. Any suggestion that Cyke or Storm or any of the main X-men team is a match for Sinister one on one is just silly. And notice that he didn’t even use his shields.
As for Storm scrambling his brain scans, Sinister never directly attacked the X-Men for that whole issue (Wolverines #6). He was only interested in getting Logan’s skeleton, so he never engaged in tp, tk, or used any of his other powers. After Storm attack Sinister, he was quickly back to normal and initiated a system override of his security system. So it appears that “brain scramble” was just a momentary stun at best not even enough for a forum ko. So that whole issue is very suspect with contradicting panels and really isn’t proof or anything other than horrible editing. I have already shown Sinister easily mentally attacking Storm along with her team many times.
https://i.imgur.com/l7n4zgN.jpg
To sum this all up, Sinister is just too powerful, too many different attacks, too durable with a healing factor plus cellular structure control, plus shapeshifting. DS claim to be able to shut down Sinister mind but he offered no proof of anyone actually doing that to Sinister. Not Jean Phoenix, not Emma Frost, not X-man, not Cable no TO virus, not even Pro. X. So Psylocke is going to do what those more powerful psychics couldn’t lol. Furthermore, Psylocke has no counter to being teleported away as soon as the match starts.
Oh yeah I almost forgot to add that Psylocke has no defense to Sinister phasing his hand in her brain.
https://i.imgur.com/pupCnwK.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/FWgUFaF.jpg
Or while they engage in a TP battle, Sinister just one shots her with eye-beams.
https://i.imgur.com/8Xq0PN2.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/2VwrFrc.jpg
At this point it’s just an embarrassment of ways in which Sinister can win, while DS didn’t even mention Psylocke’s only very slim chance in his OP. Sinister is really a low herald imo. In the end we have two very different levels of power, one gets stalemated by a street level character.
The other has fought evenly against Apocalypse.
Deathslash final post:[I had to remove two image tags because it wouldn't let me post.
Alright, looks like the time has come to submit my final tournament post.
Judges, I would like to appeal to your greater reasoning abilities. I present logic and I back it up with feats.
Sinister has no real statements of power or implied power (unlike the third most powerful psychic mutant)
https://m.imgur.com/jIOr6rf
https://m.imgur.com/PqoIoLf
Supermutant mistakes preparedness for the capacity to wreck teams.
These are actual examples of wrecking teams.
https://m.imgur.com/30Fo3et
https://m.imgur.com/jdzMj8A
https://comicnewbies.files.wordpress.com/2016/11/psylocke-vs-the-nasty-boys-1.jpg
https://comicnewbies.files.wordpress.com/2016/11/psylocke-vs-the-nasty-boys-3.jpg
Even if those showings don't satisfy you, Psylocke has still beaten actual team wreckers.
From Shadow King:
To Magneto:
https://comicnewbies.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/psylocke-kills-magneto-1.jpg
https://comicnewbies.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/psylocke-kills-magneto-2.jpg
https://comicnewbies.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/psylocke-kills-magneto-3.jpg
https://comicnewbies.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/psylocke-kills-magneto-4.jpg
https://comicnewbies.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/psylocke-kills-magneto-5.jpg
https://comicnewbies.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/psylocke-kills-magneto-7.jpg
And even Merlyn:
https://static.comicvine.com/uploads/original/12/125392/3791707-x-men+die+by+the+sword+05+%28dizzy-megan%29+pg011.jpg
https://static.comicvine.com/uploads/original/12/125392/3791708-x-men+die+by+the+sword+05+%28dizzy-megan%29+pg012.jpg
https://static.comicvine.com/uploads/original/12/125392/3791709-x-men+die+by+the+sword+05+%28dizzy-megan%29+pg013.jpg
For those of you, that don't know, Merlyn is all but stated to be the same Merlin from Arthurian legend, is stated to have trained Morgan Le Fay (same woman that soloed the Dark Avengers), created the Captain Britain Corps, and his mentor fought and easily beat the host of the Phoenix Force. By the way, he is the Sorcerer Supreme of Other world.
https://static4.comicvine.com/uploads/original/14/149927/5429808-rco016_w_1469690306.jpg
https://static5.comicvine.com/uploads/original/14/149927/5429809-rco017_1469690306.jpg
https://static.comicvine.com/uploads/original/14/149927/5429810-rco018_1469690306.jpg
Moving on, past Psylocke's much better higher end showings, my opponent believes that he can teleport Psylocke deep beneath the Earth's crust in a land far, far away from the battlefield without any presenting any prior showings of teleporting such distances.
While he tries and fails to teleport me away from him, I will be mounting a serious telepathic and telekinetic assault. I'm just going to shut down his brain with tp and failing that, I'll use tk to keep him off balance while I close the distance and hit him with my psychic knife.
https://m.imgur.com/LXCnjni
https://static.comicvine.com/uploads/original/11116/111160399/4213781-3788826-x-men243_13a.jpg
She has the power to do it too.
https://m.imgur.com/CHdnrEH
https://m.imgur.com/z3B7kSq
Especially when directly compared with a Phoenix host.
https://m.imgur.com/mDv4Ju4
She's also capable of affecting a more powerful foe in the form of Stryfe.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kqQ6Lc2TAYU/UumSS1RmIlI/AAAAAAAAEMY/2rs7rETMuvs/s1600/UncannyX-Force17-01.png
You guys know who Stryfe is right? The same guy that Sinister needed in order to one day kill Apocalypse? Yeah, she just affected someone out of Sinister's league.
That sort of power in conjunction with molecular level tk is bad for Sinister.
https://static.comicvine.com/uploads/original/12/125392/3792480-exiles+093+03.jpg
She has the tk necessary to ragdoll a team.
https://m.imgur.com/2PIV16F
Destroy buildings:
https://m.imgur.com/OC9FA3v
Protect from building destroying explosions:
https://m.imgur.com/zUmtF8c
On separate occasions too:
https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yh3BjA-0tlI/WfnmqrKuFiI/AAAAAAACg7s/Xk0UvtO-v9o9Z-nWlAghebEdPwwcxpNIQCLcBGAs/s1600/035_0004.jpg
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5Q4-2y_VG1E/WfnmqzzJm2I/AAAAAAACg7w/K9uMp1QuUtsrEpefWpfCt1_Z8M-RaDRRACLcBGAs/s1600/035_0005.jpg
Deflect attacks from Rogue:
https://static.comicvine.com/uploads/original/11116/111160399/4213712-2859106-psylocke.jpg
If this does get into hand to hand fighting, Sinister has absolutely no speed feats of note to fall back on. His only real "speed" feat (according to Supermutant) literally consists of him shooting himself in the head and falling over.
https://m.imgur.com/bp0TFO3
https://m.imgur.com/v6Maj16
😂
In truth though, a quick death will certainly be preferable over getting his teeth kicked in over and over again by someone much faster than he is.
That's Lorelei that just got owned and Quicksilver that got chumped as well. On a side note, notice how it's so well known that she can flatten mountains that people that she's only just met know about it.
Then there's this:
https://m.imgur.com/Amq5PFl
This:
https://m.imgur.com/1hizVuc
And this:
https://m.imgur.com/J9lIDpP
In hand to hand combat, Betsy will dominate as seen here:
https://m.imgur.com/jf7e2x4
Here:
https://m.imgur.com/LuOob2X
And here:
https://static.comicvine.com/uploads/original/12/125392/3792467-exiles+091+%282007%29+%28oracle-dcp%29+02.jpg
https://static.comicvine.com/uploads/original/12/125392/3792469-exiles+091+%282007%29+%28oracle-dcp%29+04.jpg
https://static.comicvine.com/uploads/original/12/125392/3792470-exiles+091+%282007%29+%28oracle-dcp%29+05.jpg
Supermutant thinks he could be resistant to the knife because of his molecular manipulation, but as demonstrated by Storm, his mind doesn't operate in a dissimilar way to that of a normal mind.
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GUhn5ZdU_W0/VNxZW3IWG3I/AAAAAAAH_V4/mIntMH_ODko/s1600/p82_10.jpg
If she could shut him down, Psylocke definitely can.
https://m.imgur.com/uoaGSgD
https://m.imgur.com/dZALQgC
Not that I have to close the distance though:
https://static.comicvine.com/uploads/original/11116/111160399/4213809-xmen2013018018-col-bdc5d.jpg
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8KVdAUZqY7o/U6INKssIAkI/AAAAAAAAEtg/3weiICSP7l4/s1600/X-Men15-03.png
If anybody were to ask me why I think Psylocke wins, I think the answer is pretty damn simple. She's the best.
Kris:
Deathslash vs Supermutant
So it comes down to Psylocke versus Sinister, two excellent choices out of the many juicy and choicy picks in the high meta tier.
Supermutant starts off by hammering home Sinister’s history as someone who has dominated the x-men. Not only does he have particular showings against Psylocke but he has depictions where he beats her alongside a team of x-men. He plans to immediately BFR Psylocke to his underground London. He then showcases some of Sinister’s more upper end showings, his healing, resistance to telepathy and his physical prowess. All in all he makes a very convincing case that Sinister could resist whatever telepathic onslaught Psylocke unleashes and follow up with a plethora of other offensive options. A strong performance overall, one that shows familiarity with both characters and not just the one he is repping. The cherry on top being the statement that Apocalypse and Sinister stalemated. Considering Sinister’s character had initially been built around his inferiority to Apocalypse this really shows how Marvel’s perception of him has changed.
Deathslash struggles to get going but once he does he really picks up speed. He establishes the immense growth that Psylocke has seen over the years. From being an uncertain telepath in the 80s she has moved on to matching Magneto and just about every evil telepath under the sun. Deathslash does a good job focusing on how far Psylocke has come since the days where Sinister dominated her and I believe he did a good job doing this.
While having the more powerful character I feel that there were several glaring flaws with Supermutant’s plan. It’s highly ambiguous whether or not he could forcibly teleporting Psylocke, and even more so what would happen in his underground base. Should the attempt at BFR fail then his plan was to engage her telepathically which seems like another mistake to me. By now Psylocke’s position as one of the premier telepaths in Marvel is so well established that such a battle would only go one way.
This match has been one hell of a ride and really showcased both debaters’ familiarity with the source material. In the end my vote goes to Deathslash. The tides of time has turned against Sinister and what would have been an absurd stomp during the 80s, 90s and early 00s is now a very close match. More than a fault of Supermutant’s I would say that this was an immense success on the behalf of deathslash. An unfortunate choice of strategy ultimately led to Psylocke taking the win, contrary to what many people might have initially believed.
This was such a close call though…even now I am uncertain….
Good job to the both of you!
Bentley:
Let's go!
This tourney is leaving me with some of the briefest OPs I've seen in my career as a judge. Thankfully in this case Supermutant and Deathslash really raised the bar with the rest of their debate, providing arguments, scans and weighting each other's arguments back and forth.
From the get to go the opening strategy seems to go like this: Psylocke tries the Tp route and Mr. Sinister tries to teleport her. The rest of the match establishes that Psylocke has great reflexes and that once she realizes what Sinister is trying to pull off she'll do her best to resist it. In my opinion Sinister is resilent enough to hang with Psylocke long enough to try teleporting her. The real question is whether he can actually teleport away people on a whim at a pace that is relevant for this combat. This in my opinion was not entirely proven (I mean, the museum scan was neat, but buildings don't move and Sinister knew what he was searching, he was probably prepped) and delves into the complex gauging of which feats are legitimate for a prepper such as Sinister under his own power.
Another of such feat would be how Sinister returned Nate's psychic strenght against him, something that's explicitly described as "he laid a trap" in there. That at least suggested that Sinister psychically prepared for the assault, so I don't see him just setting such a psyshock on the go while trying to do something else. Supermutant explicitly said that he'd try to shoot Betsy down, not setting up a trap to rechannel her energies. Deathslash properly showed that Psylocke has become more powerful over the years, but in my opinion not enough to conclusively defeat someone capable of shutting down Emma Frost consistently. The plan of closing the distance by distracting Sinister with tk and tp plays to Betsy's strenghts, with her speed and reflexes she definitively can catch Sinister with a psychic knife more often than not, but she'd be forced to use TK defensively to evade those eye beams.
Ultimately I think Betsy will wear herself down quicker than Sinister... a much needed dosis of inevitability that Supermutant really needed. He could (but might not) win the match immediately with teleportation and he could (but might not) win the match by attrition. Betsy can win everything through Tp (but I think it's very unlikely) or with psychic daggers (which is her better strategy but the setting doesn't help it).
This has been the closest match up for me to judge so far. My vote goes to Supermutant, much of his versatility was wasted in a match that was very focused on Tp and Tk, but teleporting and focusing in Psylocke's fragileness ultimately swayed me to his advantage.
Good work both of you.
Pr:
Supermutant Vs Deathslash
This one... Well, it sucks, tbh. Not the competitors. Both showed good reasoning behind their points, and I really liked how well they put together everything. The problem is, even though I did my best to ignore my own knowledge going in, what I feared would come to pass, came to pass: Sinister was shown as just being flat out superior to Betsy. Deathslash gave a good account, and actually made Betsy seem lika a challenger, but Supermutant had too much ammunition to support their case, and I have to go with Sinister.
A personal note, though? I'm amazed Sinister was allowed to be drafted. Not pointing fingers, just surprised.
----
Winner: Supermutant
