The Mission Statement Volume 1 Number 1

Content of Champions
A total of ten Regionals were held in June at Neutral Ground and other "OverPower Ally" game centers around the US and Canada. Enthusiastic contenders traveled hundred of miles (in some cases) to complete for prizes which included Marvel comic subscriptions, card boxes, promos, and uncut sheets. The ultimate die-hards showed their stuff and a plethora of winners were declared pre-qualifiers for the OverPower Nationals.

The remaining portion of this season's top opponents was determined on the first first of play at the Wizard World convention in Chicago, Illinois. Nearly 100 hopefuls (more than any other game's gatherings that weekend!) fought brutal batles on that Friday, as many Regionals winners played fun side games or looked on. All would be allowed the privilege of continuing on the nextday, as the ladder to the top of the OP world unfolded!

The two-day Nationsl slugfest on July 18th and 19th proved to be the rougest, toughest, most exciting contest ever in the annals of ''Legion' activities. The game's elite decks of the day duked it out on Battlesite Chicago: Marauders/X-Babies teams, Four Freedons Plaza teams, "lock out" teams meant to win games on a Venture of 7 Missions, even teams using Any-Character cards shone out amongst the pack!

But who would capture the glory of being crowned the 1998-1999 Champion? None other than Duncan Yuen, 17-year old player from Ontario, Canada. His deck included Marauders, X-Babies, Heroes for Hire, Flash (in Reserve), Marvel Universe Homebase, Onslaught's Citadel Battlesite, and Eye Of The Storm Missions. Duncan is enjoying his 12 months of fame thanks to his game-winning combos (Vertigo feeds the Babies all the Power cards while Black Knight Specials follow up with critical Knock Outs) and he can't wait for the mystery playing card with his likeness to get released someday as part of his big Nationals prize (also including three pieces of original card artwork, subscriptions to every Marvel comic, and hundreds of playing cards)! We'd like to congratulate Duncan and all of the players who made it to the 1998 Regionals and Nationals.

1998 OverPower Nationals Champions

 * 1st - Duncan Yuen of Markham, Ontario, Canada
 * 2nd - David Marotta of Charlottesville, VA
 * 3rd - Myles Head of Cincinnatti, OH
 * 4th - Karl Borst of Toronto, Ontario, Canada
 * 5th - Phil Keffer of Camp Hill, PA
 * 6th - Scott Flint of Amelia, OH
 * 7th - Greg Atkinson of Springfield, MO
 * 8th - Aaron Lipcznski of Buffalo, NY

1998 OverPower Regional Champions

 * California: Aaron Schoenke of Lake Forests, CA
 * Florida: Erick Counts of Chicago, IL
 * Georgia: Scott Flint of Amelia, OH
 * Illinois: Joe Couture of West Allis, WI
 * Kansas: Greg Atkinson of Springfield, MO
 * Massachusetts: Michael Seher of Tewksbury, MA
 * New York: David Kefer of Camp Hill, PA
 * Utah: Matt Fell of Merced, CA
 * Washington: Morgan Ellis of Bellingham, WA
 * Canada: Jason Van Etten of West Seneca, NY

Where Are We?!
Things have changed - but you already knew the right? (Right!?) So, here's how to reach us these days:

By Mail: Address removed

Website: Address removed - Yes! It's up and running! Come on over and check it out!

Phone: 1-800-OP-RULES Yes! It's works! We'll call you back within 48 hours of your call. (Except on weekends - we do need some time off!)

Email:
 * Address removed - technical rules questions, game play questions, and general game help.
 * Address removed - Tournement questions, tournament location information and requests for sanctioned tournaments.
 * Address removed - Fanmail, card ideas, character and set requests
 * Address removed - General questions, OverPower Legion information, online matters, and all-around help and information.

Placing With Style
Many beginners have expressed trouble when first learning how to "Place" cards. This article is intended to help those players get past their initial confusion to see how simple and strategic Placing can be.

Getting past the "penalty" thinking
Before discussing real Placing strategies, let's first dispel the myth that placing is bad because it reveals information to your opponent. First, let's assume that you are playing a competent player. A competent player is not going to waste their best defense on any old attack. They are going to wait for the important cards to be played against them - whether those cards are placed or in hand. If he doesn't see an important card placed, chances are he will assume that you are holding it in your hand and keep his defense for a worse case scenario. So what do you lose by placing? The element of surprise. What do you gain? Firstly, that big card will be there next round should it so happen that you actually don't need to use it this round. Secondly, when the next round comes, the cards you draw will likely have some other powerful card. Now you have 2 powerful cards - one placed and one in hand - and if you're lucky enough, you'll have room to place the second card as well. Notice what's happening. Round by round is going by and you are building up an arsenal of powerful cards. Your opponent may have defense to deal with one of those cards, but both? Or more?

One comment before getting to the meat of t his article - the strategies discussed here are not the only strategies you can have for placing. Some people specifically build decks to disrupt a placing-oriented deck. Still others might advise you to place different types of cards. It all depends on your deck.

Placing properly
There are different types of cards you want to place. First, there are cards that you want to have available no matter what. These might be big attacks, draw cards, cards you need to discard as a criteria of some Special, teamwork cards, etc. It all depends on the strategy of your deck. You know what these cards are because when you built your deck you probably said to yourself, "If I get this card, I know I'm in a good position." Those kinds of cards you want to place because then you're in a good position every round until you finally need use it.

The second type of card that should be placed are ones that you can afford to commit to a particular character and can be useful later in the game. For example, many people have been building decks with minimal power packs. The MultiPower 3 Power card you hold in your hand may be one of only two level 3 power cards. It's worth it to place it because (a) the chance of duplication is low and (b) the MultiPower card goes well with almost any attack.

One of the keys in placing is to try and make it certain that the number of cards you have placed to your Front Line characters is at least equal (if not greater) than the number of cards you opponent has placed to his Front Line characters. The idea is to never lose card advantage. If your opponent has 6 cards in hand and 4 placed, then he has 10 cards. Even if you have all 8 cards from your initial draw, you are still short 2 cards if you do not have anything placed. And those 2 cards can mean the difference between winning and losing the venture.

Playing Placed Cards
Before deciding to play a card that is placed, ask yourself the card advantage question - If this card hits, and my opponent concedes, what shape am I in when we draw the next hand of 8?" Will your opponent suddenly have a 2 card advantage on you? If so, you may want to consider a different play. Although you might win that battle, you have to keep your eye on the game as a whole. Unless there is some other overwhelming reason to allow yourself to lose card advantage (and such reasons do exist - you are going to KO a character for sure, you are going to destroy their battlesite, etc.) you should probably do what you can to maintain card advantage (or at least equilibrium).

On the other hand, certain cards should be played after a certain amount of time in a placed slot. Using the level 3 power card from above as an example, while I would place it, and not play it unless I could maintain card advantage for the first round, in the second round I might consider playing it anyway, since there is the duplicate of it coming up sooner or later. And if I have to discard the card from my hand because it's a dupe, then I've lost 1 card toward card advantage anyway. So in summary, if you have a dupe, you may want to play the placed card within a round or two. If you do not have a dupe, you definitely want to only play the card if it makes the different between accomplishing your winning strategy or just playing a card.

Example: You are ahead on Venture by 12 points. Your opponent has one card left in hand and nothing placed. Meanwhile, you are left with a teamwork and a level 4 MultiPower card placed to your characters. If you win this venture, you will be 2 away from winning the game. What's your move? Well, obviously it depends. If one of the characters with a placed card is one card away from being KO'd, you may want to consider playing the placed card from that character. On the other hand, if no one is going to be KO'd, and you're going to win Venture anyway, why play t he two placed? Next round, they will give you a 2 card advantage and mostly likely allow you to venture for the win! Better to pass this turn, let your opponent make the attack, and then go into the next battle, ready to win the game.

Hate that? Try This!
The definition of "vertigo" is "a feeling of uneasiness and disorientation, often accompanied by nausea." That sums up most players' opinions of the Marauders Special of the same name, especially when their opponent uses it to win again and again. But it's not unbeatable... Image OP offers some virtual "Dramamine" to help cure your motion sickness...MI Specials (Brass: Computer Tracking, Shadowhawk: Urban Predator) "Play on Target Character as an attack. Attacks made on that character, including this Special, may not be moved to any of Target's Teammates for remainder of game" Unfortunately, neither of these characters is on a Location, so the only way to take advantage of this card is to put one of these characters in your deck.

MR Specials (Fairchild: Pure Muscle) "Play during battle. For remainder of game, any Strength attack made by Fairchild may not be moved from Target Character." At first this Special seems to be weaker than the MI Specials, and to some degree it is. It only affects Fairchild, and it only affects Strength attacks made by her. But, it doesn't attack a character, so this Special can't be avoided, unlike the MI's. Also, it doesn't specify a single Character on the opponent's team, so she can focus in on someone one round and someone else a following round and still use the benefits of this card. With the MI Special, once the Character the Special is played upon is KO'd, the Special goes too.

Both of these cards have a particular weakness though, and it also happens to be a weakness that Vertigo has as well. All of them can be negated, and although there aren't any negates in Image OverPower, there are plenty of Marvel characters that have it. They all also have either the phrase "remainder of battle" or "remainder of game" which means they can also be discarded from play through the use of a KL Special (Opponent must immediately discard all Special cards in play that affect "the remainder of the battle" or "the remainder of the game"). KL Specials were first introduced in Classic OP, and there are a few characters that have it (X-Babies, Falcon, Puppet Master). Image also offers a useful event that helps counteract the effects of Vertigo. The "CyberForce vs. the Mercs" Event reads "No attacks may be moved from the target character to another character this battle." Unless you have Bishop on your team and are playing with "Temporal Anomaly", this is a one-time shot at best. But that one shot might be all you need to either shut down the Marauders completely or at least grab enough Missions to bring the game more under your control. So to all of you out there tat are complaining about the game spinning out of control because of Vertigo, veutre two Missions and call us when the game's over.

Think, Think, Think....
Just a reminder that the new "Guide To Playing Specials" is coming soon to: Address removed. In the meanwhile though, here's the latest from the rules clarification front:
 * Specials coded LN (e.g., "Vertigo") can no longer be played defensively. You must play it on your turn as an offensive action.
 * Specials coded DZ (e.g., "Trick Transport") can no longer be played defensively. You must play it on your turn as an offensive action.
 * Four Freedoms Plaza - attacks which are shifted (a) must be blocked and (b) must be blocked by utilizing the character's Power Grids. This means that it is legal to defend with Power cards, Basic Universe cards, Training cards, DoubleShot cards, etc. but it is not legal to defend with Specials, Activators, etc. which do not have a "To Use" requirement.
 * General Rule  - Cards which affect the opponent or the opponent's characters cannot be played defensively. Some cards which have been noticed as being played incorrectly: Mr. Fantastic's "Object Bounce" and The Leader's "Twisted Mentality". Read the text of the cards carefully - if it changes your opponent, it cannot be played defensively.
 * General Rule - Special Cards which are in play prior to an attack cannot be negated. For example, if Professor X players "Telepathic Coordination" and on a later turn makes a level 6 attack, "Telepathic Coordination" cannot be negated as part of the defensive action. On the other hand, if Professor X plays "Telepathic Coordination" with a level 6 attack, then a negate can be used against "Telepathic Coordination" and would stop the entire attack from succeeding.

Because You Asked for it...

The Inner Circle
The Top Ten Rated OverPower Players...In The World!
 * 1) Phil Keffer - Camp Hill, PA, USA
 * 2) Myles Head - Cincinnati, OH, USA
 * 3) Greg Atkinson - Columbia, MO, USA
 * 4) Mark Couture - West Allis, WI, USA
 * 5) Duncan Yuen - Markham, Ontario, Canada
 * 6) David John Marotta - Charlottesville, VA, USA
 * 7) John Peterson - Salt Lake City, UT, USA
 * 8) Larry Van Etten - West Seneca, NY, USA
 * 9) Morgan Ellis - Bellingham, WA, USA
 * 10) Aarom Schoenke - Calabasas, CA, USA

Who's Who?
Your Handy Guide to the All-New All-Different OverPower Staffers!

Starter Deck

 * Peter Kelley - HomeBase
 * Dan Buckley - MultiPower
 * John Nee - BattleSite
 * Jeff Mariotte - Activator

Booster Pack

 * Ron Perazza - Front Line
 * Brian David-Marshall - Event
 * Norman Barth - Ally
 * Kathy Probe - Special
 * Jessica Rose - Training
 * Kris Oprisko - Teamwork
 * Mark Irwin - Draw Pile
 * John Uhrich - Energy
 * Tobias Queck - Fighting
 * Michael Albano - Strength
 * Mary Gallardo - Intellect
 * Drew "Fuzzy Elf" Tabb - Reserves
 * Jeff "Cinnamon" Briel - Reserves
 * Nick "I.M.O.M." Williams - Reserves
 * Jack Ananda - Completed Missions
 * Annabella Eyre - Completed Missions
 * Rosalynd Jewel - Completed Missions
 * Rohan Myron - Completed Missions