The Monthly Venture Issue 3
Contents
Page 1
No One is Safe from Onslaught!
Beware! You thought that you were safe. That your team of heroes could tackle just about anything that your opponent threw at you. That your deck was as refined as it could get. Almost perfect. And then came the Onslaught! If you're a "Forget the Mission, I'm out for blood!" kind of player, then have we got something for you!
Onslaught, Holocaust, Post, and the Dark Beast attack the OverPower Universe this summer. Earth shattering new Specials, like automatically removing some of your opponents deck from the game, or making yourself immune to Event cards, are the only beginning. Onslaught gives you a sneak peak at the new Intellect Power type, and has a bone crushing Power Grid total of 23 that would make even Galactus think twice about a fight! All new Heroes, Specials, Missions, and Events with all new artwork are in this exclusive promotional release. These cards will not be found in any packs of OverPower! They will only be available inside Marvel Comics and Marvel Ultra: Onslaught trading cards, so the hunt is on! It's going to be a scorched-earth, take-no-prisioners, kill-or-be-killed summer, and you, as a member of the OverPower Legion, get advanced warnings: Are you going to be the hunter!? Or the hunted!?
Page 2
Meet the OverPower team
The perfect word to describe Steve Domzalski?
Busy.
He's on the phone with editors of your favorite magazines trying to get coverage for you favorite game (OverPower, of course!). He's planning our future expansion sets, including DC OverPower; plus special card promotions like Onslaught with Marvel Comics. If that's not enough, he runs the OverPower Legion, setting up and sanctioning tournaments across the country. And the fun doesn't end with OverPower, either!
Steve has also been coordinating and directing the game design of Star Trek: The Card Game with Mag Force 7. Oh, yeah, and in his spare time, he designed, developed, and play-tested the Fleer/Skybox card game, Hunchback of Notre Dame.
"My title is officially 'Manager of Game Development,' but I pretty much jump in with everything," Steve says. "It's a daily challenge to get the product out, get the product sold, and above all, make sure the product is played."
Speaking of playing, you would think with all the work Steve is involved with, a game of OverPower would be out of the question at the office. Au contrare!
"I play at least once or twice a week at lunchtime," he says, "I play my 'Nya Nya, You Can't Hit Me' deck. It consists of Mandarin, Sentinels, Jubilee, and Vision in reserve and uses event cards from The Crossing. It's not a guaranteed win, but it's awfully fun to play because of the heat situations that can occur that leave your opponent not knowing where to strike. Set up the Mandarin with 'Mind Control', Play Vision's 'Android Endurance', and initiate the Sentinel's 'Learning Circuits', and you've got quite a tough puzzle for your opponent to figure out. If the 'Heroes Avenge Murder' Event comes up, choose Jubilee, who only has 'Distracting Burst, Blinding Flare, and Prismatic Flare' in the deck."
A Good-Bye and Some Hellos
Steve Seckar has left the building. (Come to think about it, he also left the state, too. Hmm... wonder why?) Steve, the OverPower Special Business Unit Director, recently left Fleer/SkyBox to accept a market director position in Chicago. (Internet fans know Steve as "GAMEBOY.") We wish Steve well and hope he remembers to eat a good hot lunch every now and then. Replacing Steve is Dan Buckley, who currently heads up the Marvel Card Team in addition to the Games Team. Welcome, Dan! There's a bo of Tums with your name on it waiting for you!
On, and and a big congratulations to Ron Perazza and his wife Debbie on the birth of their baby girl, Rosalynd. (Ron wanted to call her Elektra, but was immediately overruled by his wife.) Rosalynd was born on April 26, 1996, weighing in at 8 lbs. and 9 oz.
Commander's Corner
Normally, we used this section to discuss OverPower issues and strategies. In this issue, however, I'd like to discuss the most important part of the Legion. Sure, you've spent your ten dollars and already received your membership card, at least this issue of The Monthly Venture, and the Galactus hero card. Great, right? Not totally! In order to get the most out of your Legion membership, you've got to be playing in sanctioned tournaments. It's the only way you're going to increase your Legion score. Remember, top scores will be looked at to see who will receive future exclusive stuff, in addition to the other stuff we'll be sending to everyone. So, how do you find a sanctioned tournament? It's really very simple. The Legion will sanction any tournament that has at least 16 players and a judge. Go to the shop where your purchased your OverPower cards for starers. Ask the store owner if he'd be interested in holding a tournament in his store. Tell him to call 1-800-OP-RULES to get a sanctioning kit. Explain to him that if he can get 32 people, Fleer will send some prize support. And, if the tournament has 64 or more, then Fleer will send some really substantial prize support. Fleer has even developed a network of demonstrators and judges that will help him run his event. If you don't have any success this way, try organizing the event yourself. Distribute some fliers, call some friends, get 16 people together with someone to be the judge, and you can have your own tournament in your neighborhood. That's exactly what some Legion members are doing. They're assembling in each others' homes once a month and playing OverPower. They're calling the Hotline and getting sanctioning kits and they're competing and increasing their scores (well... some are losing so not everyone's score goes up). But, the most important part is that they get to play, check out how effective their deck building strategies are, and, win or lose, they have fun with their favorite game.
Page 3
I Think I'll Have The Crackers, Sausage and a Doppelganger Card, Please
Unlikely team-ups are pretty much a standard for OverPower. Dr. Doom and Mr. Fantastic -- Apocalypse and Cable. Professor X and the Sentinels. Fleer/SkyBox and Hillshire Farm. Fleer/SkyBox and Hillshire Farm?
As unlikely a team-up as that may sound, the two recently came together for a cross-promotion for OverPower in Hillshre Farms Lunch and Munch products. In specially marked packages of Lunch and Much, 10 exclusive OverPower cards were available to consumers who purchased the product. These cards are:
- Spider-Man - Over The Edge - Acts as a level 4 Fighting attack. May combine with 1 Strength card for a single attack.
- Rhino - Stampede - Rhino may combine Strength Power cards level 1 thru 4 for a single attack. May be blocked as a whole or in parts.
- Scarlet Spider - Scarlet Savior - Teammate may avoid 1 attack.
- Hobgoblin - Frightening Visage - Target hero must discard 1 placed Universe card of Hobgoblin's choice.
- Carnage - Combat Chaos - Opponent's Energy Power cards do not count in the Venture total for this battle.
- Venom - Lethal Protector - Attack made on teammate is now made on Venom, who may defend it.
- Mysterio - Misdirection - Avoid 1 Energy attack.
- Dr. Octopus - Killer Crush - Acts as a level 6 Strength attack. Cannot be defended by a card with an Energy icon.
- Any Hero - Alien Symbiote - Symbiotic Bonding! Removing 1 hit from the Permanent Record of any hero.
- Doppelganger Hero Card - Energy 1, Fighting 3, Strength 6, Doppelganger may play any Spider-Man Specials.
Right now, the only way to get this set of cards is through the Lunch and Munch offer, or as a prize in a Sanctioned OverPower tournament. That's right, while supplies last, this set of cards will be used as prizes to top winners at OverPower tournaments around the country!
Compete and Meet!
There's never been a better time to be an OverPower player than now! Coming next month to (hopefully) a town near you are the OverPower Regional Tournaments. By competing and winning in these tournaments, you can get a free trip to GenCon (Milwaukee) and the chance to compete in the OverPower National Championship. Even if you compete in the Regional Tournaments and don't win, if you're in the Top 10, we'll give you a guaranteed seat at the semi-finals at GenCon. (You will, however, need to provide your own transportation to this event.)
When you're at GenCon in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (see t he back panel for information about t he Regional and National Tournaments!), make sure you stop by the Fleer/SkyBox booth and pick up your chance to win a dinner with Fleer/SkyBox on August 9, 1996. All you have to do is show your membership card and fill out an entry form on either August 8 or 9. The lucky winner (and a friend of his/her choice) gets to have a full-filled dinner with the members of the Fleer/SkyBox Games Team, as well as Walter Koenig (Chekov) from Star Trek fame who will be promoting Fleer's new Star Trek Card Game!
Page 4
Tournament News...
The Inner Circle
(OverPower's Most Recent Top Players)
- Keith Bursak of Mantua, NJ
- Christopher Tumber of Ottawa, ON
- Shawk Gorzowski of Elkton, MD
- Frank Yue of Drexel Hill, PA
- Tim Gustafson of Hemet, CA
- Rockwell Green of Overland Park, KS
- Paul Skorez of Mississauga, ON
- Russell McCormick of Independence, MO
- Jose Fitchett of Newark, DE
- Richard George of San Jacinto, CA
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