Inquest #95!

[MarkFinn]

Because of the upcoming GL sendaway, I decided to pick up an issue of Inquest and see what was what. After all, across the top of the mag was the legend, HEROCLIX: THE UNBEATABLE TEAM REVEALED! Well, see, I know Wizard pretty well, and I know they love that hype, so I thought, eh, I'll see anyway.

Let me save the rest of you the trouble and give you a run down of this particular issue:
The Letter page: Lots of YugiOh love. Nice. If I could dial back my age, this would be radical.
IQ News: nothing we haven't seen online already. Another Marvel RPG. Because, see, the LAST one was so great... Also, more trading card stuff. I'm stunned that there's still so much card play out there.
The 10 hottest Legions Cards. More MTG. Well, the Goblin Goon card does look pretty cool...wait, what am I saying? Ick, phooey, Magic bad!
Page 31, WizKids...Ah, here we go. Why I bought the bloody thing...let's see...Rex is a 38 year old independantly wealthy man from Indiana, and he's the world champion Heroclix player! Neat! What's his team? Firelord, 2 wasps, a black panther, bullseye, and a hydra medic. Sweet Fookin' Christ. I don't know what to say. A team I'd never play, and apparently he's winning sealed booster tourneys, too. All that love for 200 points. Who knew?
Mechwarrior, no comment. I don't play the game. Nor do I play regular MageKnight; I play Dungeons, instead. But the article format is the same. Cheese, and more cheese.
More card coverage, and then something called The Combat Zone...strategies for miniature games. Let's see...it's all Mage Knight LE's this time around. Useful for the beginning player. There's a picture of Mister Miracle with a point cost, picture of a dial, and a strategy write up...with absolutely NO mention whatsoever that this is a custom-built figure. And how did they figure that he would be 47 points? No one ELSE has cracked the Clix code...what do they know that we don't? Not much, I'll tell you that right now. It's all make-believe over there in Inquest land.
Now it's video game reviews. I guess that's gaming. Sorta.
More card articles, and then a price guide. That's on page 50. It runs for 42 pages, if you count the Player's Guide, as well. Only then is there an ad for next issue: An Exclusive Clix Offer, and a 72-page preview of the Marvel Roleplaying game (which won't be d20, but yet another and different arbitrary system that will suck with the same gravitational force as their last game).

So, that was 5 bucks of my life I'll never get back. Hopefully, this post spared you some of the grief, too...

[firstfederal]

Crybaby.

See you on Monday.

Ask me about the ### kicking I've been taking in the tourneys.

Bill

[warden]

I bought that issue yesterday and was looking forward to seeing the article about Rex. That was ok but it's a shame that they didn't print photos of the world champs.

I've not been through the issue carefully but I've already got more out of it than Mark Finn. I just picked it up to check out the Mister Miracle feature that Mark mentions (probably a left over from last months article which had figures and dials for Galactus, Green Arrow, etc). And it fell open at an advert which announces the HeroClix World Championship for 2003. That's a bit odd, because I thought that HeroClix didn't have a formal championship. But it's certainly something I'm going to look into as I like the idea of taking Rex's title.

Where and when is this championship? I'm not going to say (why increase the competition?). Buy your own copy...

BTW, there's a Firelord joke on page 4. Not as good as the Sentinel joke last month - now that was a hoot.

The one feature I'm not keen on are the spoilers for the Matrix sequels. I have to keep averting my eyes when I hit those pages. But I'm managing so far ...

Andrew

[MarkFinn]

Go with God, brother. I (thankfully) missed the Matrix sequel spoilers, and I certainly won't go back through looking for them.
To me, that makes for an irritating magazine.

[Melkoloran]

I'd considered getting that IQ until I saw the headline about the unbeatable HC team. I remember back when I used to get that mag 6-7 years ago, and it used to be the unbeatable Magic decks that were always just reprints of the World decks. So I didn't bother buying it.

[capwolf]

I bought tht mag too because of the Heroclix headline...What the H.E. double hockeysticks was that ####? It had like 2 pages of HC stuff....Inquest is clown shoes.

P.S. Im still buying it next month for the LE though...

[ducko5]

This world champion guy said his best move was to stall for eight rounds. BOO! BOO, I SAY! I don't mind that Firelord is his favorite figure, but there should be a law against sitting still for eight turns.

[Xanth]

And to echo Warden, there is no HC World Champion since there are no (as yet anyway) rankings for HC.

[Rictor]

That's the result for HC not being a sanctioned game, every tournament has its own rules, I'm pretty sure this So called "Heroclix World Champion" not even get close to the las position in a tourney organized around here.

Our rules: No pass actions in 2 consecutive turns and no duplicated charachters with name.

Also I wonder if this champion anytime tried to make a team without a firelord (at least for fun)

Anyways, I think I have to buy IQ next month due to Green Lantern promotional but I'm sure that I never ever will buy another IQ without a promotion.

Just for the record the prices listed in IQ are very weird. Some of you know how do they calculate the price???

[Xanth]

The GL offer will be in number 97

[Druss]

In the most recent Wizkids Underground they state that Inquest made a mistake and there is no current HC World Champ, ditto for MW. They're just high ranked/respected players.

As for his tactics/army, pure cheese, the guys in it for the win, so be it but thats not what HC is for me. The games too fun and has too many rules problems to play it seriously and take it that seriously.

[JakeStone]

Inquest is a joke. They used to be worth something five or six years ago, but now they have a bunch of clowns writting for it. Every once in a while I'll see a big Hero Clix headline on the cover and I'll get suckered into buy it. What a waste of money. I'm only going to buy it for the promotions for now on. I hope they go out of business soon to make room for a magazine that actually writes about the things they advertise on the cover.

[Drashia]

Who said Rex was respected?

I had the misfortune of picking that issue up too..

if anyone wants it... i'll send it to you... for free (send $ for shipping though)

They should have an article on JP's world tour.

Turds to them.

[ringrover]

how many people have gotten this pull from opening two sealed boosters? makes me really scratch the ole head and wonder.

[TheYanger]

I dunno, I still enjoy inquest, it's funny.
Scrye is basically superior in every other way of course, but hey, you can't be all things. I need variety when I'm taking a dump so I buy both. When I'm goin no.2 I don't care what the articles are about, just need something to read.

[warden]

More jealous sniping, I see. To address these points:

Wizkids may not recognize a world champion but Inquest do. Why did they pick Rex? He won seven tournaments at Origins including the championship and four tournaments at Gencon including the championship.

Now I'm no dummy - I regularly win tournaments myself and was the world champion for a different game (Doomtown CCG). But when I played Rex, he beat me easily. Now, of course, he uses Firelord and cheesy tactics if he can - he's not dumb. He's smart, fast, aggressive and knows the game inside-out because he plays it so much.

Now he can be beaten, of course - he says himself that the dice often decide the game. But his streak that summer speaks for itself - the guy is a champion like I've never seen in any other hobby game.

Now, if you want to test your mettle against him, try going to one of the big conventions or his home ground in Indiana. If you don't get around then you're in no position to judge him.

Anyway, if you don't believe Inquest, here's a link to the Wizkids' report of his Origins championship. Note that the Dungeon winner on the same page is Magister - former HeroClix rules arbitrator, now employed by Wizkids. He was running HeroClix events there along with other senior judges. It doesn't come any bigger or better than this.

Origins link (http://www.wizkidsgames.com/wk_article.asp?cid=36959)

Andrew

[ducko5]

I've never played in a tournament, and I lose frequently. But I still love the game and I love playing it.
I'm not jealous of Rex in any way. He's the champ, and good for him. It's just that he said stalling for eight rounds was his BEST MOVE!!! I hate that. Nobody I play with does that, and there is no house rule that says they can't. They don't do it because it SUCKS!!!! It robs the game of fun!
I hate it, I hate it, I hate it, and there oughta be a law against it.
Ok, rant over.

[MarkRider]

I don't know who this Rex guy is, and I could not really care less. If he's just in it to win it with whatever works, good for him. Tournaments just carry a different "win at all costs" mentality than casual play amongst friends(but if you still play that way with friends then you don't deserve to have any). I've read about that team he used before in Scrye several months ago. It must have been their coverage of Origins or something, I don't remember. But I did try that team out and really, REALLY annoyed everyone else with the pure cheese involved. It's a winner, but it sure isn't fun to play with or against.

With that said, I agree with the guy who writes that Inquest is good bathroom reading. Lately I find it to be an excellent natural laxitive. I've bought into one too many Heroclix covers with little or no real Heroclix coverage lately to actually buy the magazine again, unless they have a Heroclix exclusive figure offer. Then they usually run the same offer in Toyfare and Wizard, so I just buy one of those instead.

[Criosphinx]

Actually, I have met Rex before. He's played at my venue on a few occasions. He is a very skilled player, and he does like his Firelords, that's for sure. One thing I noticed, though, is that he never came to Booster Drafts or Marquees. I wonder why that is? ::scratches head:: Oh well, some things I'll just never know.:rolleyes:

[MarkRider]

Let me spell it out for this guy since he's kind of shy: He no likey play when he no control what characters go on board(Firelord). I have seen many would-be conquerors of the clix come in bragging and go out sulking after a booster draft tourney when luck and skill had more to do with a win than having the better collection. But that again is no indication of anything about anyone. Just a free translation of the last post.

And I'm not telling you anything that you don't already know.

[PsychoDBoy]

With that team an tactics, anyone can win a championship if they know what they're doing an are cheese about it. Whatever floats their boat tho, I wouldnt play a team like that, nor would I want to play someone using a team like that. I'm glad the tournies I go to people still make varied fun teams, not silly taxi, wait, shoot teams. To fight cheese with cheese i'd jes have a r invis girl with a buncha other stealth people all hiding in a big bush, and maybe a heavy shooter. Then I'd just stall til he came to me. Le's see some line of sight drawn to me then.

Heh Mark, nice O'haire reference.

[MarkRider]

Liked it so much I made it my new signature.

And the Invisible Girl with stealth characters is the absolute new cheese annoyance until X-Plosion when something else will no doubt be just as annoying. I had one guy hide invisible girl in hindering terrain and put a couple of medics by her, so when I would knock the #### out of Firelord, he'd fly him back and heal him with Medics I couldn't hit because of 18(19 vs. range because of terrain) defense. Made for a REAL long game.

Bottom line, there's fun play and tournament play. Play to win in tournies and everyone understands. Do it all the time and everyone thinks you're a dork.

[Noman]

Oh dear, I'm about to disagree with warden...kind of. (Sorry Andrew...cos I realy don't want to do that...)

but, 2 points -

1. That is NOT an especialy good team that "The Rex" outlines. Plus, it's dupes (unless one of those Wasps is Unique), so it hardly counts (LoL). However, if he won with that, then he is obviously a good player - BUT

2. There is no World Champion. There is no US Champion. There is no UK champion (although you and I, warden, are 2 of the 10 or so people who would seriously go for the UK title, if there was one) - if the mag want to call him a Champion, then let them - but he isn't. I wish there were such tournaments - but there arn't. And anyway - there are lots of different formats - which one(s) was he champion in ?

On another point, if he does play "run-and-hide", well, it is a tactic - but a good player will be able to crack it. It is not an Uber stratagy. As to "The Rex" saying that a lot of it is in the dice - well, yes it is. I like it like that - probability alteration rules !

(Nice to see Magister's name crop up again - he's been very quiet since "The Geek War" posts - I remember jumping to his defence and saying nobody should be judged by how they look in their photo - an idea I find repulsive - although they certainly should be judged on the game rulings they make - an area where Magister produced a great deal of laughter for a great many people, for which he should be thanked !)

Thanks for outlining the contents of the magazine so well, guys. I don't think I'll buy it !

(...and if this was a bit more acerbic than my usual posts, well, it was that claim by the mag that there was a World Champion of a game system I love, but where we don't even have areas or regionals or anything yet...)

LoL

All the Best

Noman

.................................................................................................... .....

"He has the benefits of obscure alien technology..."
Julie Burgess, FGP Gamesmaster, (1980's)
when asked to explain how a Biker Superhero turned an 18ft long bike around in a 6ft wide corridoor...

.................................................................................................... .....

[warden]

Originally posted by PsychoDBoy
With that team an tactics, anyone can win a championship if they know what they're doing an are cheese about it.

His opponent had a similar Firelord team and was passing too. But he lost and Rex won. And there were plenty of other Firelord teams there - I was using one myself. That was the nature of the standard tournament game then. Anyone with half a brain knew that. It was going beyond that to consistently win in this environment that made Rex the champ.

If you don't like cheese then take it up with Wizkids. The stalling/Firelord/dupes thing is their idea, not Rex's.

Andrew

[Noman]

I don't have a problem with using (one) Firelord - almost all my tournament teams have contained the Veteran version. It is horribely open to RCE/Outwit though - what makes it good is the taxid first round hit (using Rookie Booster Gold, for preference...), and assuming you don't get a crud role, then the opponent is a piece down and doesn't recover.

The dupes business is now "old news" - everyone knows my view on it, (no dupes except generics) but the Judge defines the tournament environment - so I would hope a "world champion" could win in several different ones, including sealed deck / 1,000 point / multiplayer / Scenario play, and so forth...

The "passing" tactic is heading for oblivion anyway - the more expansions come out, the more new figs and powers there are, and the more team permutations there will be, the more different ways there will be to counter any given stratagy - in low point constructed, it is a fairly winning stratagy, but again, so is InvGirl or Black Spidey Turtleing, or the Airbourne Taxi Squad, or the Checkmate Medic Horde, but they are all beatable.

Just like Firelord x3 teams.

LoL

All the Best

Noman

.................................................................................................... .....

"He has the benefits of obscure alien technology..."
Julie Burgess, FGP Gamesmaster, (1980's)
when asked to explain how a Biker Superhero turned an 18ft long bike around in a 6ft wide corridoor...

.................................................................................................... .....

[Spock]

Only then is there an ad for next issue: An Exclusive Clix Offer

The GL offer will be in number 97

So which is it...96 or 97?