[Holiday Tourney - FINAL!] Darksaint vs Bentley

Darksaint:
- Absorbing Man
- Max Lord
- X-O Manowar

Bentley:
- Coldcast
- Colossus
- Quicksilver

Battlefield will be a merger of non-populated DC/Marvel Earth but with no tech other than what you have on you/what participants can create [so there's no Baxter Building, no Batcave, no Watchtower etc.].

Prep: 1h prep. You can build stuff, put up defenses, prepare offense etc. You can run around the globe, you can teleport, you can fly, in that time. But you can't affect the actual battlefield - once the match starts it resets so you only have what you carried/created on you. When the minute is up you go through a portal which takes you to the reset battlefield.

Standard tourney rules: 0.5km starting distance. No BFR. No CIS. Posters are in control.

Bentley's opening post:

I have a weird but still pretty safe game plan all in all. It would seem that my team is rather mediocre at prep when compared to that of my opponent's, but the fact we are limited to technology we are currently carrying makes it less of a crafter contest and more of a time to set up the winning strategy. I have more speed and more raw power. But I have also ideas.

1st part of the plan: Colossus made me do it

First of all, before we randomized the location for our prep time one of my suggestions was Melbourne and this is part of my plan. I'm going to the Australian Laboratory for Emerging Contaminants (ALEC) (https://alec.science.unimelb.edu.au/#tab17) , because it happens that Australia is a rich country that's part of the Antartic treaty and has a big natural environment so it only makes sense that they posses a sample of one of the worst contaminants known by modern science: Antartic Vibranium. Let's not forget this is a Marvel/DC Earth amalgam and that while tech is unavailable, materials are still there. Hence I'm going to procure myself this probably small sample of vibranium.

I'll be able to locate this sample with documentation through my super speed https://justpaste.it/img/c10ad92cd0636ed54fc76560ccc0432f.png and no physical barrier can resist Colossus's strength. I do have a build in way to prove the sample found is anti-metal since Piotr has an adverse involuntary reaction to it:

https://justpaste.it/img/40d6df5fa96b3176be24e1c8d32af686.jpg

2nd part of the plan: Piggybacking

Quicksilver remains the fastest threat in the field so it's time to make him the most dangerous threat too. I'm going to shield Pietro and Coldcast together so they are cozy and protected:

https://imgur.com/my8JUub

But Coldcast will be riding on Quicksilver's back in a way that no adult with self-respect would do, but this is a plan of Bentley's and self-respect is irrelevant. This shield will be pretty specific, it'll be set so Pietro can run by carrying Coldcast at high speeds and it's mostly there so Coldcast doesn't suffer any ill-effect from QS exerting his power. An the same time Pietro's and Coldcast's hands will be able to leave the shield if extended five centimenters or so from their initial position, the idea is that Pietro can get his hands out of the shield or move Nathan's arm outside it, so it delivers a shocking painful death:

https://imgur.com/TWUDkpj

So this time around I'm not just twisting the neck of an undefended opponent, I'm downright plowing through your armor before you get to think. Energy will be flowing into Coldcast hands and upon touch will vaporize the opponent immediately.

And I will use half an hour of my time to practice so that this shield "horseknight" set up works as intended, first at lesser speeds then with more and more potency.

3rd part of the plan: Crystal Clear

I'm assuming my opponent will use his prep to set up some passive defense that will prevent us for carrying this plan without opposition. I'm guessing it'll be a permutation of setting up shields and using cloaking. Since I'm cost effective I'm simply going to pick up some colored glass and put it inside a pouch. By throwing it at high speeds towards my opponent at the beginning of the match I'll gauge where they are even if invisible (since the glass will bounce off them or off their shielding). and I don't even really need to slow down massively since from the starting position I'll a good guess how far the opponent should be (if any of them is visible it'll be a death giveaway, if not I can easily cover the perimeter of 500 meters and throw glass with no problem)

If my opponent is shielded I'm not going to try to have Coldcast touch him right away and I'll have him use the array of attacks I'll list further down during my offense.

Back to non-basics

Having a small silver of vibranium is cute and all, but what I intend to do is to have Coldcast copy the vibration produced by Anti-metal and reproduce it on a much wider range. By definition he can manipulate and sense the Electromagnetic specter and has been able to mimic energies in the past:

https://imgur.com/kXwKTUr

I have Colossus and his aversion to vibranium to test that I'm 100% copying the vibration as intended so if this doesn't work I would just scrap this part of the plan. But otherwise it presents me with a clear path to defeat Creel: any techonolgy he copies, I'm melting, any energy he imitates I'm dissipating with my manipulative abilities.

I'll take ten minutes of rest before heading into the fight.

The start of the fight: Speed Kills again

Colossus is in metal form and carrying a very big rock that he'll throw with full strength at the biggest threat. Coldcast and Quicksilver are shielded as described above, imprevious to energy attacks, carrying a pouch of glass (I'll also place my vibranium in there just in case). Coldcast has previously charged his extended hand with enough energy to blow up a small moon. As soon as the bell ring he throws a EMP blast:

https://imgur.com/LRTmlhX

Then he manipulated any shield if there are any still standing (if there are he'll stop charging energy in his hand) and then he bursts out a AOE blast that shuts down brains:

https://justpaste.it/img/e89c000bd839fded01ea52beaef1d864.jpg

As you can see his every ability is in no need of aiming so during that time Pietro can be using his movement for defense and offense depending on what he has gauged from.the glass I sent as DS's team. Ultimately we will dispose of Maxwell and Aric in the first moments of this battle and the only one who probably struggles before going down is Creel, but our superior mobility and versatility will seal the deal for us at that point.

Darksaint's opening post:

Holiday Tourney Final

OP

Shit, he has drafted Colossus. ****.

OK, so our prep time is one hour, and we are in Melbourne. Tbh, it doesn’t really matter where we start - as I have (thanks to Max Lord) a teleportation device:

And the Manowar suit, which is capable of interstellar flight:

https://imgur.com/a/a85ay6g
https://imgur.com/a/xXSjwl4

But we first gather intel. Manowar is capable of running through battle simulations to gain the best outcome:

https://imgur.com/a/lonYjMP

Bolstered by the intel from Creel (for Quicksilver/Colossus) and Max Lord (Coldcast), I will at least have common knowledge. This is nigh instantaneous:

https://imgur.com/a/pUrlm35

In that scan, the armour updated Aric with 16 centuries of history.

He’s also linked to every database available:

https://justpaste.it/img/d121e449268de0ddf402d96890418885.jpg

Any intel I need, is at my fingertips.

Then, so as to not mess with a good tactic, I strip Aric naked:

https://imgur.com/a/1bxDGKr

And use Max’s teleport device to go to various locations around the world, to equip and arm Aric. It must be noted, Aric is extremely proficient with a sword, even without the armour:

https://imgur.com/a/OgwFaJt

Even when naked, he is still capable of defeating armed aliens with literally one hand:

https://imgur.com/a/dkZ9AHA

He’s essentially a Conan barbarian type. Capable of beheading horses with a single stroke:

https://justpaste.it/img/8255904a4af77cffbef10648981e05a0.jpg

So just pointing out, in my previous BZ I had him naked and just standing there...now, he is fully armed.

Max dons the armour:

https://postimg.cc/xNbGtTLD

Which will constantly heal him:

https://justpaste.it/img/63d5b956f647d04ae1e21554d05075a3.jpg

Here, Aric’s best friend had been tortured to near death (I thought it would be good to show the judges just how badly injured he was):

https://justpaste.it/img/e7cc9d4105f25a0294b1209f706ba235.jpg

He dons the armour, was healed, and was able to interface well enough with it to destroy an entire alien fleet:

https://justpaste.it/img/76e8196eea9e8437c8e340209648690f.jpg
https://justpaste.it/img/30ea099b2b1f8f125723d9309f4ac884.jpg
https://justpaste.it/img/b2553ddf5956c1f519eabbdcb56ee5c4.jpg

That was just to prove how well newbies can use the armour. More on it’s healing:

https://i.postimg.cc/0yZfhGDN/RCO024-1.jpg

Max then raises his forcefield which he stole from Booster:

https://justpaste.it/img/f91b9700c9010291056a472bc556c0b2.jpg

Creel….absorbs part of Melbourne, like he did with NYC:

https://justpaste.it/img/ba2952e86b903306e4135acf7abaf6ab.jpg
https://justpaste.it/img/5418c4224ac312d9b0a3da7ddd0943aa.jpg

Now, I am fully aware, judges, that on the face of things, Bentley’s team has me beat. Coldcast is the biggest gun offensively here, Colossus has the best durability showings, and Quicksilver has the best speed showings (that people know of). But the issue is, there are also a lot of holes in his team.

Coldcast, for example, is a glass cannon. He has human-level reactions and durability, as evidenced when his brother shot him in the stomach:

And his claims to fame? Notable that of ALL of his showings, when he faced Superman (with the Elite) Superman was playing along, and in THIS scan:

https://justpaste.it/img/524f49285e45be3d055fd79fbad2396d.jpg

He neglected to mention it had all been an act on the part of the JLA, to fool Mother Earth into believing the Elite were a threat. But note, all the same - that attack was useless against Plastic Man, because he had...no neurons. A plastic being. Which is what Absorbing Man is now, only, much larger and stronger.

Colossus is...well, he is Colossus.

Quicksilver sounds tough. But I have a Lord. A Lord who is now encased in Manowar armour. How fast is it?

Remember, judges, that Bentley used QS outrunning a bullet as proof of his speed. Here is Aric slicing a bullet in half with his sword (bonus as a skill feat):

And here he is outrunning a supernova:

https://imgur.com/a/fIFvuh0

But I do NOT have to outspeed QS - after all, I am a telepath, encased in amour he will never get through:

https://imgur.com/a/a5GnjZj

What was that? Oh, that was just Aric catching a meteor after it was teleported into him at close range 😉 Reflex speed, durability AND strength all in one handy package of scans.

And surrounded by a force field that can take Kryptonian beatings:

https://justpaste.it/img/7436ad064aab08728b2504106c28f583.jpg

And HV:

https://justpaste.it/img/8e7cc43c2f99c33cfd4a646c97d2be9e.jpg

And Frankenstein:

https://i.postimg.cc/FFZQW815/RCO007-1462164487.jpg

What’s that? We can’t just share feats?

Here is Max explicitly using his FF against Booster, and they are equal:

https://justpaste.it/img/ebae5526987ad43d77d7d6364d0c7fcd.jpg

And again:

https://justpaste.it/img/9d6e291da98551fb5d33875a8e85c2d4.jpg

AND AGAIN:

https://justpaste.it/img/f3fa0ea663f52fa3ee5c6949d132c56a.jpg

Well, I guess they are not quite equal. Note that Max’s is unaffected by the EMP 😉 :

https://justpaste.it/img/f3fa0ea663f52fa3ee5c6949d132c56a.jpg

Just in case Bentley tries any EMP shenanigans.

Oh, and X-O Manowar has a shield of his own:

https://justpaste.it/img/45471a21c5f67d697c57e3872c08bb4c.jpg

Judges, note that I used Booster’s feats, but I am limiting it to what was shown under the same writer (Winick) in JL: Generation Lost. I COULD have been disingenuous and used ALL of Booster’s feats, and really, I am well within my rights to - but I have limited to what the same writer thinks of Booster.

So, match starts in NYC.

I arrive on the battlefield with:

[list=1]
[*]Absorbing Man is now city-ish sized (I absorb enough to be incredibly strong and durable, but not enough to overload myself) in a body with no neurons to attack.

[*]Max Lord is clad in the X-O Manowar suit, has Booster’s shields up, and is cloaked:

https://justpaste.it/img/7e3aaebe914c5481ec506801d84c6c2d.jpg

[*]Aric is armed with whatever weaponry he is most familiar with - axes and swords, maybe a bow and arrow. Not naked.

[/list]

I immediately teleport Max out of there with Max’s teleport device to a location of my own choosing, leaving Bentley behind in NYC.

I then scan for him using my planetary level scanners:

https://justpaste.it/img/1b603f33cc36d2c9c5fe3283cd5a5f8a.jpg

And mindrape him from a (planetary) distance:

https://justpaste.it/img/874bb2f1210940e72832c010494cacda.jpg
https://justpaste.it/img/efa52ad238bdd368db99dc4a9ed2bf08.jpg

Honestly? That is all I need to do. None of his team have any means of detecting me, or catching me. Note that I have even left my location vague - judges, if YOU can’t picture in your heads where my team is, neither would Bentley.

Now, I might be called upon to prove the range of my teleporter. Moot.

Here is X-O flying into orbit in the space of a conversation:

https://imgur.com/a/ivvg78m

Even IF I can’t teleport that far, I back it up with some speedy flying - bottom line is, I am OUT of there.

Remember, my reflexes are far faster than Coldcast and Colossus; the Manowar armour enables its user to slice bullets out of the air at close range. Able to catch meteors teleported at it at close range. I MAY be slower than Quicksilver (maybe?) but my shields and armour more than protect me from anything QS can do. Coldcast is powerful, but lacks the speed to affect me - and besides, he will soon have his hands full.

But I want to have some fun with the rest of my team.

Absorbing Man will then start absorbing NYC instead of Melbourne - he IS now NYC (or at least, a few city blocks.

In the commotion, Aric sneaks off and hides. Then when Coldcast least expects it:

https://imgur.com/a/xHJ0Yrf

There, Aric (before he ever got the armour) was capable of sneaking up, and throwing a war axe so hard, it went through a Roman centurion’s armour and killed him in one stroke.

Quicksilver is speedy alright, but how would he run when the very city he runs on keeps shifting under his feet?

And Colossus is Colossus. With Max, I can make him power down to become human…..before Aric takes him out.

But again, this assumes Max doesn’t affect them with his telepathy and makes them all kill each other. Whilst Max is constantly being healed by the armour, cloaked and shielded somewhere else.

By the by, if anyone tries to sneak up on me:

https://justpaste.it/img/0855110b17af0019f54e6567a5c989e1.jpg

That's THE Ninjak, being detected by the suit.

Holiday Tourney Final
Post 2
Right. That was….an interesting post from Bentley, not gonna lie.

Mostly interesting, though, because it turns out he actually kills his own team. How? With Max Lord shenanigans? No, through effort, dedication, and sheer phucking will.

Judges, let’s go over his prep. He grabs some Antarctic vibranium (which he acknowledges Colossus is vulnerable to, then brings it to the battlefield, where we have Absorbing Man.

Then proceeds to use Colossus to hold, then throw this rock. I mean...he posted scans of Colossus instinctively becoming mere flesh when he’s near this vibranium, so….

Assuming he can even throw this much vibranium as a human, he then throws it at the biggest threat...which in my OP, would be Creel (unless he thinks Aric is?)

But in addition to this, he also had Coldcast throw up a shield so that he would be protected from the aftereffects of QS’ running.

Except, in the scan he showed...Coldcast didn’t make a shield - he doesn’t have this ability. It was Hat. Coldcast was depowered from hitting Superman with his best shot:

Coldcast could barely even fly. As soon as the Hat was KO’d, Coldcast had no protection. So what does this mean?

As Quicksilver is merrily running around with what seems to be infinite glass, lol, Coldcast is suffocating on his back with glass shards being thrown into his face - because Coldcast hasn’t shown the ability to make shields.

So let’s summarise, judges.

Match starts, Coldcast has no shield and is blinded/choked out by Quicksilver who assumes it is safe to run at top speeds and chuck handfuls of glass all over a 0.5km battlefield.

Colossus is depowered by the vibranium he is holding, and tries to throw this at Absorbing Man, who...is now made of the one metal that depowers him.

Meanwhile, Max Lord is long gone, having gotten the hell out of Dodge in his suit:
https://i.postimg.cc/BvhPT8Cz/RCO022-4.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/pLJFdc5R/RCO023-3.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/HLW780b5/RCO004-2.jpg

Outracing a supernova (assuming I can’t just teleport). Scanning for threats, and Max can get to work. Remember, the planet is our battlefield, and the suit can bring people who are near death back to life.

Once safe, I once more use Max's TP powers to control his team (although, arguably, this isn't even needed). Max makes Colossus depower himself and just stand there with Coldcast in front of Aric and his weapons, like he did with Booster and Kara (see later).

And makes Quicksilver run into a wall. Or just stand there and get decapitated by Aric.

Creel is on the battlefield in NYC, having become NYC (and immune to Coldcast’s powers, assuming he is still able to do anything when he’s choked out and blinded from all that glass). I mean...now one could argue he is now Antarctic Vibranium?

He can simply KO Colossus and Quicksilver, frozen in place by Max.

Aric is skulking somewhere, armed to the teeth, with a blinded Coldcast and a human, unarmed Colossus.

That's the beauty of my team - everyone is a threat. Max can control them from a distance - he was able to affect the entirety of DC Earth with ZERO prep before:

https://i.postimg.cc/Qty9XsDD/RCO032-1462164976-1.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/kXt8gVDp/RCO033-1462164976-1.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/SQPC4LQ9/RCO034-1462164976.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/6pJZ29v5/RCO035-1462164976.jpg

Obviously he suffered major blood loss - but he was still conscious and of sound mind (enough to escape). Captain Atom forced him to undo the effects of his mindwiping without any prep. And now, I have the Manowar suit healing him. He can oneshot (or rather, make them oneshot themselves). Here, he literally makes Booster freeze - imagine him doing the same to Quicksilver, for example (this is with ZERO prep):

Makes Kara freeze:
https://imgur.com/a/gO3ji

Fire to attack her teammates (even when she's aware of it):
https://imgur.com/a/iTEIE

Guy Gardner to release him (ZERO prep):
https://i.imgur.com/MK6Pzzd.jpg

Some cops kill each other (ZERO prep):
https://imgur.com/a/ehce4

And that ignores him just flat out making them see each other as enemies and fighting each other as my team looks on with popcorn:
https://i.postimg.cc/L68FrDZq/RCO014-1462164533-1.jpg

And even WITH prep, he was able to screw with Fire, Cap Atom, and Magog:
https://imgur.com/a/VxgU6
https://imgur.com/a/Bw84z
https://imgur.com/a/6H4Eq

What prep did he use? Note, for example, there is no bathtub filled with ice etc with Magog. In his famous initial mindwipe feat, all he had were bloodbanks and ice tubs:
https://imgur.com/a/lr0Lb

But that is not needed now - I have a Manowar suit to heal him.

Absorbing Man is immune to anything Coldcast can throw, and thanks to the Vibranium Bentley brought to the field, can now oneshot them. Remember, he's gigantic and a literal brick.

Even Aric has a chance, especially with the OP Bentley posted. Remember, he writes this WITH having had the benefit of prep - so he fully believes he can do what he wrote.

Frankly, Bentley could have gone up against a team of Jarvis, Aunt May and Alfred, and the results would be largely the same. BENTLEY is the one who depowers Colossus, and BENTLEY is the one who blinds/chokes Coldcast, lol.

The only option he has is Quicksilver - which he wastes by having him run around Times Square with a pouch filled with infinite amounts of glass, apparently, lol. Which...I mean, it might take Aric out, maybe?

Except remember what I said about Aric being a Conan type? His damage soak is pretty insane. Here he is with a grenade:
https://imgur.com/a/heHsBNf

An extended fight:
https://imgur.com/a/kujOAPf

Here, he was in an explosion caused by alien bounty hunters who had prepped especially for him, and were out for revenge. This caused his armour to short out:
https://i.postimg.cc/sDxtJ1Rh/RCO009-1550691584.jpg

Then he gets stabbed, beaten, blown up, shot etc (remember, this is when his armour was out of commission for 24 hours - this is all one fight):
https://i.postimg.cc/G3qWYG6R/RCO012-1550691584.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/3NSzTQ2N/RCO013-w-1550691584.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/L56Gw8YG/RCO016-1550691584.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/NMxWdHM1/RCO018-1550691584.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/DZh9Qg2v/RCO019-1550691584.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/Dz1VbD3p/RCO020-1550691584.jpg

Then like Rocky, he rises up to the challenge:
https://i.postimg.cc/YC5K07Zm/RCO021-1550691584.jpg

Eventually, his gf comes and saves him, and he proceeds to kick ass:
https://i.postimg.cc/bYghTKDK/RCO005-1553127003.jpg

Wait, that was him getting stabbed some more. THEN he kicks ass:
https://i.postimg.cc/wjyY9Mfp/RCO012-1553127003.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/hP3qFT0s/RCO013-1553127003.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/zXf1P0T3/RCO014-1553127003.jpg

Before being shot at by a giant alien robot:
https://i.postimg.cc/yx1zKT5Q/RCO015-1553127003.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/Xqs6YC6V/RCO016-w-1553127003.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/MTb8gLsf/RCO017-1553127003.jpg

He, of course, survives all this. Main point here - he didn’t have his armour systems, and despite all that damage, was still fighting. Quicksilver and some glass? Bentley better make sure it’s a killing blow, lol, otherwise Aric is perfectly capable of decapitating his entire team if given the chance.

Summary
Defensively, I win. Max is in another...state? Country? Continent? Really, he could be anywhere in the world, whilst cloaked, whilst clad in armour that heals him and has incredible durability (see scans of him with the meteor). If needed, he also has Manowar shields, AND Booster’s FF (but note I am not solely relying on it in this BZ). Creel is either part of NYC or Antarctic Vibranium, depending on Bentley and his ability to depower Colossus (either way, he has no neurons for Coldcast to affect, and Quicksilver isn’t destroying NYC/Vibranium). Aric has his….well I guess he is just going balls to the wall lol. Zero defense for Aric.

Offensively, I win. Max is able to use his TP over global distances, and doesn’t even need to be physically present to affect people (see the scans of him undoing his mindwipe over the entire globe). He needed to avoid blood loss in his most famous feat, but in actual fact he repeated this feat ad hoc, so didn’t actually need it in the first place. Creel is either part of NYC or Vibranium, which Bentley kindly reminds us depowers Colossus. Aric is….well, armed to the teeth against three guys with human level durability.

I mean, I didn’t think it possible to make Colossus suck even more in a BZ, but…..

Man, I brought a bunch of glass for this fight and somehow that's less brittle than Darksaint's points. But enough trashtalk let's get to it.

I'm so powerful DS needs me to beat myself

...It's not happening though. First of all let's check a few details of my post that were missed by my opponent:

Colossus is in metal form and carrying a very big rock that he'll throw with full strength at the biggest threat. Coldcast and Quicksilver are shielded as described above, imprevious to energy attacks, carrying a pouch of glass (I'll also place my vibranium in there just in case).

At the start of the battle the vibranium is in QS's pouch nowhere near Colossus so he is not in human form and he is instead carrying a boulder he'll use to either distract Creel or kill one of the remaining fighters of the team. Now that I've clarified that Piotr is going at full steam DS is clearly outmatched, ggs

This also dispels the notion that QS is not a threat. After shields go down Vibranium will go through the Manowar armor like butter:

https://imgur.com/PQjBlAt

When thrown fast enough it'll also plow through Maxwell's skull. In the same vein, despite him being a though son of a b_tch Arin won't last much against random rocks thrown at him at match speeds.

https://justpaste.it/img/156ff39e3760b2e9f21eefac01b248e2.png

He might even be able to tear appart Creel:

https://justpaste.it/img/c287a5df5baf320a0dcf35948e2807e8.png

Imagine Pietro soloing QS's team after he claims he can't do much to them lol

Who's shield is it anyways

So, in a scan interpretation worthy of Alberto's, my opponent brought two scans claiming that the shield that protected Manchester Black and Coldcast in this two scans was done by the Hat:

https://postimg.cc/LnKnsL2q
https://postlmg.cc/F7y1kzHT

His logic being that the shield dropped after the Hat was koed and I assume that in his mind the winds at five hundred miles per hour conveniently stopped at that very point to keep Nathan and Manchie safe. Also dismissing that if the Hat was able to cast the shield over himself instead of just facing the wind he'd have been alright. The justification: a line where Coldcast says he's not able to blister the whole moon ... While implying he might be able to match Kal if he gets to grab him. The Hat's powerset is pulling off magic things off his hat and invulnerability, he's obscure but just check his powerset.

I mean, it's even Coldcast who says they are "lockdown" while in the other hard the Runefield makes the Hat physically invulnerable, he's more or less explaining why he didn't also shield the Hat. Manchester realizes first this was a mistake.

So I have shields and even if I didn't during my prep time I clearly stated that we were going to try this piggyback experiment progressively so I'm not incapacitating my teammates, I made this plan to be safe. Let alone the fact Coldcast already teamed up with a speedster and has been proved to be fine after moving at the speed of light:

https://imgur.com/Vzp8c0H

Now after dispelling all of DS's second post, let's put him into trouble:

Not your dad's Manowar Armor

My opponent brought the Gafti showing where Arin's best friend kamikazes himself to destroy an Alien armada:

https://justpaste.it/img/76e8196eea...0209648690f.jpg
https://justpaste.it/img/30ea099b2b...9309f4ac884.jpg
https://justpaste.it/img/b2553ddf59...bdcb56ee5c4.jpg

That is pretty much the best showing that anyone other than Arin has ever achieved with his armor: flying in a straight line and dying. By giving this armor to an unexperienced Maxwell Lord he just got rid of every cool ability this machine has because this is not just a tool, it bonds with the user and it's 100% certain that sharing feats through users is misleading.

The Gafti showing happens really early in the series but he also brought much modern armor feats so we know he is using a late Manowar armor. The process of bonding has been going on further since Arin ever donned the suit, this is an ongoing plot point of the Manowar series. Let's hear it from the armor itself:

https://imgur.com/dVItksE

"We are bonded. Aric, you and I. Unlike you... I can be with no other"

Can Maxwell even wear the armor now? Can you prove it'll bond well enough under an hour so he has bullet time reflexes?

So yes Darksaint, one of us lost this battlezone through sheer will, but it wasn't me.

---

The battle: Maxwell and the armor are gone before managing to do anything (will develop in my last post)

We kill Arin real quick as soon as Maxwell goes down, either rock to the head by Quicksilver or Coldcast knocking down his neurones will work. We are then three on one against Creel and Colossus is actually putting up a decent brick on brick fight at the moment. Pr bought this issue twice already because it is that exciting. Kaiju Creel is pretending I don't have a guy who casually destroyed a chunk of a moon and that can vaporize his city form.

We eventually do vaporize his physical form through sheer power and I use my speed to keep him from even attempting to regenerate. If Coldcast feels he's too low in battery we can go hang in a different city, take a good rest and get back whenever since at that point our mobility is so beyond Creel that it isn't funny. He can't do anything to us by himself, we have shields, power and he never accounted for the Vibranium so it's not really a threat.

/Flashback

*Bent is reading through Darksaint's opening post for the first time*

- Holy Sh_t, I win

/Flashback Ends

---

OK, so we made it to the final post and yet another KMC tournament is completed. It's incredible to think that Battlezones managed to survive 2020, huh? Thanks to Phil, Darksaint, Dambo, Mr_Mind and to all the judges. It's time for me to wrap of a few loose ends on what we saw and to explain, to prove to you, that even a Colossus can win.

Whose shield is it Anyways Part 2

Reading upon Darksaint's opening battle plan you will notice that he decided to carry Booster Gold's shields to this battle:

Max then raises his forcefield which he stole from Booster:
https://justpaste.it/img/508275576b3efa4f255432b4fbf72ed1.jpg

Then he goes his way to show how Booster's shield is entirely pwned by an EMP blast:
https://justpaste.it/img/d2420d9422e112c0ade3e93b00222d09.jpg

I'm going to explain why that doesn't work here:

He explicitly brought the shield that gets beaten by my attack. And this is going to net me the win, because the teleporter will go down with the EMP blast leaving Maxwell with the crippled armor he can't use vulnerable to a quick Vibranium bullet to the brain or my neuron attack.

But hey, Darksaint said Maxwell's own shield did not get broken by EMP! What about that? Well, the problem is he misreaded the scans in two critical ways. Let's correct that:

https://justpaste.it/img/d2420d9422e112c0ade3e93b00222d09.jpg

That's the Electromagnetic pulse that shut your suit down at the J.L.I. Embassy in New York

So the EMP blast happened somewhere else, why would it hit Maxwell's shield? Then we have the fact that the shields that are clashing don't look the same at all, one is like a red pavisse and Booster's shields are round and blue. The shield is also round in the scans where Maxwell is explicit about using Booster tech:

https://justpaste.it/img/508275576b3efa4f255432b4fbf72ed1.jpg

And the red pavisse is pretty shitty as far as defense goes, in the very scans DS brought the gun Maxwell carries gets smashed by just being outside the covered area:

https://justpaste.it/img/9a57bba249b7a9d458480841ff921a4c.jpg

So bringing the pavisse means that you are not fully covered and the EMP blast hits you from the back, while bringing the round shield makes you explicitly weak to EMP blasts

---

Steady wins the race

Now, let's assume for a moment everything goes South and somehow Maxwell slips through the cracks and teleports away. He has changed the memories of people all over he world, but this is not an ability he has used for subtle chirurgical strikes nor to KO enemies in the other side of the globe. He's still dependant on the armor locating us with its sensors but that's an ability Shanhara deployed from orbit, is he going to self-BFR? Knowing that the armor has further bonded with Arin is Maxwell really able to pull off feats from its later comics such as shielding, cloaking or using those sensors (as Arin has never used them)?. Even the information download Darksaint showed on his prep happened after several days of wearing the armor which at the point was still not bonded as deeply with another user:

https://imgur.com/a/lonYjMP

I'm giving Maxwell some credit here, as a telepath he can manage huge amounts of information but downloading data into a brain you have barely bonded with could knock him out cold lol

So I think DS got a bit greedy with equiping Maxwell with Shanhara and making it so relevant to his plan, this is not an amalgam tournament. I've shown that I can disable machines at a huge distance:

https://imgur.com/LRTmlhX

And it's implied that schorching a planet is well within my capabilities:

https://postimg.cc/LnKnsL2q

Even if we buy that Maxwell within an hour will be equivalent to Arin who has bonded with Shanhara for years, and we willingly ignore the armor has said he can only be with Arin, his win isn't even guaranteed. What does that tell you of his overall plan?

I have the edge because my abilities are more staightforward, reliable and I used my prep to polish them.

----

The arguments

- I've proved Coldcast can hang at high speeds.

- The Hat is clearly not the creator of the shield that protected Nathan and Manchester as Darksaint claimed.

- If my speed was somehow detrimental to Coldcast, as per my prep, it won't be used. The EMP blasts and the shield will still happen and QS will handle things proactively with his reflexes.

- The impostor was DarkSaint's shield

- The Manowar armor has further bonded with Arin since Gafti donned it and that showing was not that impressive. We have no idea if Shanhara can bond with other people at this point.

- Save for the healing all the powers the armor showed happened days if not months after bonding with the user.

- Colossus was not carrying Vibranium, just a rock:
https://justpaste.it/img/d427bfeedff00c91c72a562ce7f9c643.jpg

The battle

- Maxwell might not be cloaked at all, might not have enhanced reflexes nor advanced scans. His brain is objectively not used to the armor.

- If he's defended with the Pavisse shield we just move around him and kill him with the piggyback hand-kill before he acts.

- His teleporting is dependant on a gesture, a physical motion, my EMP blast is called upon a thought.

- We have every reason to believe EMP will hit all his tech (no proof was advanced that Shanhara will resist this), Maxwell is not preparing an offensive mental attack so he'll be surprised when his whole tech fails and we'll take him down.

- Quicksilver will kill Arin before he tries to reboot Shanhara

- Colossus will distract Creel long enough for us to come back against him and pick him appart.

- If for whatever reason Creel went to copy Vibranium let's remember this is shitty antartic vibranium and not the cool, Doomwar reality warping Wakandian variety. I'll just vaporize him with my blasts.

I have quirky offenses like my Vibranium bullet and the glass but I'm not really dependant on them: when the EMP blast goes off we have the upper hand. Darksaint went in a direction that was very tech dependant and that plays to my strengths. I believe my plan asks for less speculation and thus is more likely to succeed.

And that's the game from me, thanks everyone for reading!

Holiday Tourney Final
Final Post

Yes, I know I am verbose, lol. But my appetite has not dimmed.

Ok, you know what? Bentley likened me to Alberto. Judges, throw him out - there are limits to this trashtalking, lines no one should cross…
In this last post, I will (successfully) rebut the salient points from Bentley’s last post, then summarise the main points so far from both of us. Hopefully it is not too onerous. Let’s see what Bentley wrote.

Full disclosure: Bentley’s OP was so convoluted, I missed that Colossus was holding a giant rock, rather than the Vibranium. But you know what? Completely moot. Remember, judges, he has Coldcast duplicating Vibranium (zero proof of this, btw - what, is he just going to duplicate the Cosmic Cube now? The Worlogog?) and running all over the battlefield - we all saw what a thin blade does to Colossus, and now Bentley has a human-sized duplicate being carried all over the place (assuming he can dupe it).

He then attempts to handwave away the Hat’s shield. Note my justification isn’t merely that Coldcast said he couldn’t blister the whole moon - Coldcast literally says he’s out of juice, and can barely even fly. If he got a hold of Kal, maybe he could….try SOMETHING, but he stops there. A reminder:

But let’s keep going. First, note the colour of “Coldcast’s” shield:

Mmm purple. So?

When they teleport in. When they teleport out (not a power of Coldcast’s, btw). When the Hat is getting ready to fight. I mean, one could also argue it’s Chester’s shield - bottom line is, Coldcast could barely fly after attacking Superman, and yet there’s a pretty strong forcefield around him that just happens to be the same colour as the Hat’s when he uses his powers? Ok. I mean, it would have been simple to refute this point - all Bentley had to do in his 2nd post was post a scan showing Coldcast with a shield, where Hat/Chester weren't around.

But he didn't.

Moot, anyway, since Bentley seems to acknowledge this with his Flash/Coldcast scan (the one where he has 3 broken ribs, lmao). Note, however, that Flash wasn’t throwing handfuls of glass everywhere.

Next point - Bentley attempts to seed doubt in judges’ minds as to whether the Manowar armour as worn by...Arin? (tsk, if one attempts to appear an expert on someone, at least get their names right, Mentley!) would bond to Maxwell. Great scan, except in the VERY next page:

https://justpaste.it/img/df503116c7d5df23bc19bdc271248425.jpg
“You will do only what I require, when I require”

“As you wish. I am yours to COMMAND (emphasis mine) as ever.”

All moot. If Aric commands the armour to do something (as an example completely off the top of my head, to bond to and obey Max for the duration of this fight), it will, even when it's against its judgement.

The armour has obeyed him in other situations, after all. Notably when it is time to strip naked:
https://justpaste.it/img/4ca925a3a2f113d2897c9a29a9d4d7e7.jpg
https://justpaste.it/img/16ba74d1715dc2062ba615fc69fb3512.jpg

And again (OK, I am kinda detecting a theme here):
https://justpaste.it/img/6d1fa3a604ecf449a949d7ef824db36d.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/4d79jrT0/RCO013-1582391307.jpg

In short, it obeys him.

So that should clear those two points up.

Final summary
When the hour of prep starts in Melbourne, judges, Aric connects to whatever computers he needs, and goes through the best tactics to defeat his opponents (which is obviously the one I am about to detail).

Commands the suit to bond with Max. Naked, Aric goes and collects whatever weapons/clothing he requires and feels most comfortable with, based on his extensive skills with them, using the teleporter if necessary.

Max wears the armour, acclimatises with it (I have an hour, assuming it is needed), then raises his stolen Booster Gold shields, then cloaks. I mean, judges, note how little prep this will all take. I have plenty of time to command the armour to follow Max, or even to automatically press buttons on teleportation devices if needed.

Creel absorbs Melbourne, becoming a being of concrete and brick etc.

Meanwhile, Bentley is trying to find Vibranium, testing each piece of metal he finds on Colossus, wasting time with Coldcast attempting to raise shields (that he does not have), practicing piggybacking, attempting to copy Vibranium (because...he once was able to copy the sun, he can copy metal which he has NEVER seen or even heard of before?), getting a pouch and as much glass as he can crunch in there, a boulder for Colossus, and all manner of weird and wonderful things. Remember, any activity that involves other members of his team forces QS to be at their speed - no point in practicing super speed piggybacking if Coldcast doesn’t even register that he’s being carried. Then he has 10 minutes of rest after doing all of this.

Remember, too, that vibranium was such an important part to Bentley's plan he asked for Melbourne, and dedicated 1/3rd of his prep to this.

Match starts.

I immediately teleport out of there with my enhanced reaction/flight speed, and am nowhere near NYC, cloaked. Max uses his sensors (or if you want to be picky, judges, let’s say the armor uses its sensors and tells Max), locates his enemies, then phucks them up with mind control. You have seen the scans, so let’s not rehash them - scroll up if you want to see them. He can make them drop their defences and freeze, he can mess with their perceptions to see each other as the enemy, he can simply mind control them to attack each other. Meanwhile, the armor is constantly healing him of any blood loss he sustains. He has done all of this without prep, after all - see above my scans for ability to do so (Fire, Guy, Booster) and range to do so (when Cap Atom forced him to, ad hoc).

Creel is in NYC, and starts absorbing NYC if needed - but the main point here is he has no neurons for Coldcast to attack. A literal brick, he can utterly stomp the human-level-durability Coldcast and Colossus (see below), and the frozen-in-space Quicksilver.

Aric is armed to the teeth, ready for blood. Able to decapitate horses with a single stroke, able to one shot armoured Roman centurions on horseback from far away - against three meat shields. Who really shouldn’t be. He can ALSO one-shot Bentley's entire team.

What is Bentley doing when the bell rings? Judges, let me weave a mental tapestry for your mind's eye.

Coldcast is riding on QS’ back, and throwing an EMP blast, but he is also charging his hand - no proof that he can multitask like this, btw - then manipulates any shields left, then bursts out an AoE blast that was ineffective against Plastic Man (well, I mean...note his one scan of this ability, Coldcast ISN’T doing an AoE blast lol but spitting it from his mouth). Bit risky, considering we saw what that ‘moon sized’ blast did to Coldcast - he was completely drained. Better hope there isn’t any man on the field who can absorb energy, lol. And remember, he is doing all of this after a scant 10 minutes of rest.

With a character who has human level reactions (as noted in my OP, and which has seen no rebuttal).

FYI, Io the moon ‘only’ has a radius of 1800 km, and Coldcast’s blast was only about half that - so 900km (max)? A reminder:

Sounds impressive, until you realise that isn’t even halfway across the Continental US. I am WAY out of there. Without shields, too, it would be interesting to see what happens to Quicksilver when he fires these AoE attacks.

Quicksilver, meanwhile, is throwing glass from a bottomless pouch of glass (seriously, he hasn’t once mentioned how large this pouch is, and apparently he can cover a battlefield of 500m diameter with this lol), whilst carrying Coldcast who at some point is also…..vibranium? Instructions unclear - and then…not quite sure even Bentley knows, apparently. But we know that Vibranium, so important to his plans - so important to the Marvel U, that entire wars are waged to get this exotic metal - is now being used to attack.....Absorbing Man. Who becomes whatever is used to attack him. Right.

Meanwhile, Colossus is throwing a single boulder at...someone, apparently Bentley still hasn’t decided, and will simply leave as ‘the biggest threat’. By the time Colossus registers the threats, the fight would be over lol as Max seizes control of his mind and tells him to power down. Or Vibranium Creel just depowers him.

Ultimately, judges, my team meshes well, whilst Bentley’s actually weakens each other. Coldcast depowers Colossus when he attempts to become a human lump of vibranium, and KOs QS when he attempts to fire off an AoE attack, assuming he doesn’t KO himself with all of this energy expenditure, and assuming QS doesn’t blind him with flying glass.

And that's just attacks from his own team.

Colossus will look cool, though.

Before I post the verdicts - congrats to Bentley and Darksaint for a great match and thank you very much to the judges Martian Mind, Pr and Galan for taking the time to analyze and send the verdicts.

With that said..

Martian Mind's verdict

Well done guys, this match was really...something. Probably one of the most interesting examples of prep I've seen in a tourney, especially on Bentley's end. The image of Coldcast riding QS into battle is truly delightful.

As for the fight itself, well, it was definitely a sloppy affair, with the crux of the issue falling to the Manowar armour. Bentley raised a valid point about Max's ability to use it effectively, and I don't think DS really did enough to convince me he could. The scans he provided proved that the armour would follow Aric's commands, yes, but not in the context of bonding and endowing all it's various powers to another person. Indeed, the only real example was a suicide attack, which did little to help the point. He did make a valid point about the glass bag seemingly being bottomless, but ultimately that is irrelevant, as it wasn't a decisive issue. Truly, Bentley has pulled off a Kang-worthy feat here, in that he presented a battle strategy so farcical, so convoluted, that it kept DS from successfully concentrating on any of the main issues, such as the validity of Max's shield. I don't think enough was offered to declare it immune to EMP, which means that Max was down yet another form of defence. As such, while neither of the strategies presented seem iron-clad, I find myself leaning towards one as the (tenuous) victor.

Congratulations Bentley, you crazy son of a *****.

Pr's verdict:

==

All that anti-Colossus rhetoric. Tsk tsk. For shame.

I... I don't know what to say about this. At least, at first I didn't. I liked both arguments, even if it felt like both were reaching a bit in some places. Though that's par for the course in a tourney like this, so I wasn't going to hold it against the competitors because it didn't stretch believability too much.

I ended up, as one might expect, having to decide whether I thought the plan that seemed to hinge on Max Lord would succeed, or the one that hinged on Quicksilver. Absorbing Man becoming city-sized is all well and good, but I really don't think it was going to affect the outcome. Neither would Colossus because he wasn't really used at all, and Coldcast... No comment.

When it came down to it. When it really came down to it, I honestly felt like what I'd seen of that suit (a character I know nothing about tbh), and DS's use of Max Lord's abilities, would be enough to deal with what the other team brought to the fight. So yes, I'm gonna vote for Darksaint in this one.

==

Alright guys... So I went into this with a 'clean slate' so to speak. I hadn't read any of the previous matches, and I put everything I knew about the characters/tactics you're using to the side. Basically, if a point wasn't definitively proven in this particular match... It didn't exist.

That being said, I'd give my nod to DS here. My reasoning...

Bentley:
My main issue with Bentley's argument is when he said that he would acquire Antartic Vibranium specifically from a laboratory somewhere Australia. However, he didn't post any scans/evidence that led me to believe Antarctic Vibranium was on-hand at all times in this undisclosed Australian lab. Since it's not something I would ever assume to be the case unless explicitly stated(or at least heavily implied), that particular tactic didn't seem feasible to me from the onset... And unfortunately, much of your strategy hinged on you successfully procuring the material... It was ultimately just too much of an assumption/leap for me to make without any sort of proper supporting evidence(my suspension of disbelief can only stretch so far.) That being said, even if I had assumed that you did in fact obtain the Antarctic Vibranium, it wouldn't have really changed my opinion in the end.

I also wasn't confident, based on the evidence provided, that Coldcast was creating the protective shielding in the first place. Based on what was shown here, I think it is entirely possible that Hat could have been the creator of said shields. This also led me to believe that the QS/shielding angle may not be full-proof either, which left Bentley with another possible vulnerability: ie. QS is essentially just running around with a 300 pound black man on his back, defenseless.

The glass tactic, while hysterically creative and "cost effective", would also be a bit superfluous if your opponents aren't in your vicinity to begin with. Moreover, you can only fit so much glass into a pouch to begin with(it's not Hermoine's handbag, lol.)

The AoE blast seemed to be the most potent attack in your arsenal, and I do think it could work IF successfully delivered... But thanks to Saint's strategy(namely teleporting), he could be well outside the range of said attack with the literal click of a button, then just 'port back(or attack from across the globe) afterward. Aside from that, I also think an attack like this could have some pretty devastating side-effects to your own team members.

DarkSaint:
His argument hinged primarily on the abilities of a theoretical X-O Max... And to a lesser extent, Creel(although the thought of a naked Aric running around the field trying to sneakily behead everyone made me lol.)

While I doubt that the X-O armor could bond to Max as well as it was bonded to Aric, I was convinced that it could bond/acclimate with Max enough to at least give him the rudimentary enhancements required here -- because Aric himself would be the one ordering it to do so.

For me, it really came down to DS having a more solid tactic in the end. I just didn't see a feasible way for Bentley to counter Max's TP coupled with teleportation, shielding, the X-O's gadgetry(ie. speed/cloaking/healing/battle simulations/etc.), and a city-sized, energy-absorbing Creel.

Job well done to both, though... This was a fun read. 👆

Congratulations Darksaint, you are the tourney WINNER!