Palatinus' OverPower Forum

Okay, it's been a long time and I'm not sure if anyone is interested but, for the record, here is what I know.

Back in the day OverPower Regionals and National tournaments were a pretty big deal with thousands of dollars on the line, serious bragging rights and hundreds of players.  Although there were two 'Kick–Off' tournaments held in 1995 and various attempts to keep tournaments going following the games demise (eg the OP Cup), 1996, 1997 and 1998 were the only years with a formally organized series of Regional competitions leading into a Nationals tournament at a big summer convention. Here's what I remember and have pieced together from old Mission Statements and Newsgroup postings.

1996: Four Regionals and Nationals held at GenCon in Milwaukee

•   NE-Norman Barth beat ? in final.
•   MW-Frank Yue beat Norman Barth in final
•   SE – Steven Hester beat John Watkins in final.
•   W – Cherie Briggs beat Michael Coe in final.



Final 4 at GenCon  Nationals: Cherie Briggs (1), Aaron Schantz (2), Steven Hester and Anthony Winters.
Regionals winners received glass trophies, a trip to GenCon and a box of every Fleer/Skybox product for a year. Nationals winner got a bigger glass trophy and $2,500.



1997: Six Regionals and Nationals held at Chicago Comic Con

•   Hemet,CA – Brian Stange beat ? in Final
•   Huntsville, AL – Jita Smith beat ? in Final
•   New York – Frank Yue beat Jeff Breil in Final
•   Chicago - Greg Atkinson beat Norman Barth in Final
•   Seattle, Washington – ? beat Mark Justice* in Final (* allegations of cheating)
•   Toronto, Canada – Trish Yue beat Gerard  Dicks in Final

Final 4 at Chicago comic Con: Cherie Briggs (1), Aaron Schoenke (2), Keith Bursack (3), and
Marcel Lojet (4).
Regionals winners received glass trophies and a trip to Chicago ComicCon. Nationals winner got a bigger glass trophy and $5,000.



1998: Ten Regionals and Nationals held at Wizard World in Chicago

•   California – Aaron Schoenke
•   Florida – Eric Counts
•   Georgia  -Scott Flint
•   Illinois – Joe Couture
•   Kansas – Greg Atkinson
•   Massachusetts – Michael Seher
•   New York – David Keffer
•   Utah – Matt Fell
•   Washington – Morgan Ellis
•   Canada – Jason Van Etten

Final 4 at Wizard World: Duncan Yuen (1), David Marotta (2), Myles Head, and Karl Borst.
Regionals winners received comics, cards promos and $200. Nationals Winner received original artwork, comics, OverPower cards and their image on an OverPower card (see Team OverPower).

Please add any memories or links you have. There are still some archived reports out there I could organize and link to here.

Some deck archaeology:

Quote from: 1999 Regional Winners

• Atlanta: Norbert Wildhaber, Jr., of Germantown, Illinois
  Heroes For Hire / Beast: The Brute / Juggernaut (Spider-Woman) [Any-Heroes] Omniverse {Shattered Image}
• Canadian: Derek Bertrand of Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada
  Spawn / Starjammers / Scarlet Witch (Spider-Woman) [Onslaught's Citadel] Omniverse {Infinity Gauntlet}
• Chicago: AJ Kitsmiller of Reynoldsburg, Ohio
  Mr. Fantastic / Invisible Woman / Namor (Thing) [The Outback] Four Freedoms Plaza {Fatal Attractions}
• Columbus: Phil Miller of Ashville, Ohio
  Beyonder / White Queen / X-Babies (old Magneto) [Age Of Apocalypse] Omniverse {The Crossing}
• Michigan: Joe Brincat of Livonia, Michigan
  Spawn / Scarlet Witch / X-Man (The Ray) [Any-Heroes] Omniverse {Infinity Gauntlet}
• New England: Derek Bertrand of Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada
  Spawn / Starjammers / Scarlet Witch (Spider-Woman) [Onslaught's Citadel] Omniverse {Infinity Gauntlet}
• New York: Philip Keffer of Camp Hill, Pennsylvania
  Spawn / Starjammers / Scarlet Witch (Spider-Woman) [Onslaught's Citadel] Omniverse {Fatal Attractions}
• San Diego: Micheal O'Connell of Arlington, Washington
  X-Man / Reavers / Starjammers (Spider-Woman) [Morlock Tunnels] Omniverse {Infinity Gauntlet}
• San Francisco: Timothy Jang of Daly City, California
  Reavers / Sentinels / Invisible Woman (Deathbird) [Any-Heroes] Omniverse {Shattered Image}
• Seattle: Micheal O'Connell of Arlington, Washington
  Zealot / Serpent Society / Heroes For Hire (old Spider-Woman) [Any-Heroes] Omniverse {Fatal Attractions}
• Texas: Ben Taylor of Huntsville, Texas
  Deadpool / The Hand / Starjammers (Captain America) [Any-Heroes] Omniverse {Assault On Onslaught}

Quote from: 1998 Nationals

• 1 Duncan Yuen: Marauders, X-babies, Heroes for Hire, Flash,Onslaught's Citadel, Eye of the Storm
• 2 David Marotta: Marauders, X-babies, Scarlet Witch, Flash, Any Heroes, Dark Phoenix Saga
• 3 Myles Head: Marauders, X-babies, Scarlet Witch, Spider-Woman, Onslaught's Citadel, Age of Apocalypse
• 3 Karl Borst: Mr. Fantastic, Invis. Woman, Thing, Namor, Onslaught's Citadel, Sins of the Future
• 5 Phil Keffer: Marauders, X-babies, Thor, Flash, Onslaught's Citadel, Fatal Attractions
• 5 Greg Atkinson: Black King, Mr. Fantastic, Dark Beast, Neron, Concrete Jungle, The Crossing
• 5 Scott Flint: Marauders, X-babies, Heroes for Hire, Doomsday, Onslaught's Citadel, The Crossing
• 5 Aaron Lipcznski: Thing, Invisible Woman, Torch:Invaders, Namor, Outback, Brave and the Bold
• 9 Morgan Ellis: Marauders, Scarlet Witch, Starjammers, Vision
• 9 Marcel Lojet: Marauders, X-babies, Captain Marvel, Flash, Any Heroes, Dark Phoenix Saga
• 9 Jason van Etten: Marauders, X-babies, Heroes for Hire, Flash, Onslaught's Citadel
• 9 Larry van Etten: Mr. Fantastic, Invis. Woman, Thing, Namor, Outback
• 9 Eric Topham: Marauders, X-babies, Heroes for Hire, Morlocks, Onslaught's Citadel, Eye of the Storm
• 9 Eric Counts:   Invisible Woman, Nightcrawler, Scarlet Witch, Flash, Outback
• 9 Derek Bertrand: Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Thing, Namor
• 9   Colby: Marauders, X-babies, Heroes for Hire, Flash, Onslaught's Citadel, Fatal Attractions

For the 1997 Hemet regional, Brian's opponent in the finals was Aaron. The prizes for regionals that year were really big (flight + hotel at nationals, I think some per diem money, and one of every card printed up to that point including Monumental). I'm 99% certain that Brian was using Sinister, Dark Beast, Robin, Fantastic (R) vs. Aaron's Sinister, Red Skull, Dark Beast, Fantastic (R).

Trish Yue's winning deck had some combination of Superman/Holocaust/possibly Sentinels. I'm hoping it didn't have Parasite, though it might have had Eradicator...

For the Aaron vs. Cherie Nationals finals, Aaron had Onslaught, X-Babies, Professor X, Brainiac (R). All I can remember from Cherie's deck is that it had Scarlet Witch, and I think you were both running the same team that you used at Hemet regionals with Onslaught in reserve. The Ray, Scarlet Witch, _____, Onslaught (R)?

If I sit and think about it hard enough I think I can come up with some more stuff, and Jita's opponent in the finals of the regional he won is on the tip of my tongue.

By the way, those trophy pictures are neat.

Thanks for the deck info. I can also dig out the info from 1996 but all the decks were very similar at that stage.

Yes, of course, I should have known that Aaron came second in Hemet in 1997.

I also forgot that there was a series of sanctioned Regionals in 1999. (I should have remembered since I think I was at the SF one). It was just the Nationals that were canceled that year. They were scheduled to be back in San Diego again.

You are right about the prize support - it was good in 1996, excellent in 1997 and really dropped off in 1998. In 1996 it was cool to get boxes of every Fleer/Skybox product for a year (and that was just the Regional prize). That's why we have those Star Trek cards - we got a box of starters and a box of boosters. I don't think the prize was meant to include sports cards but they kept sending them. Plus 101 Dalmations, Toy Story and I forget what else. But the best bit was the OverPower boxes we got - I know we got DC starters and boosters, IQ, JLA and Monumental starters and boosters. I don't think we got Classic but we ended up getting several boxes of this free by helping Steve Domzalski demo it at the Berkeley Games Distributor open day. But that's another story.

I hope you opened all the 101 Dalmatian product, haha.

I thought of a few more from 1998. Matt Fell won with Four Freedoms, the finals of Georgia had Marauders/X-Babies/Scarlet/Flash vs. Four Freedoms (I'm not sure which player used which deck), Aaron won the one in Mountain View with Marauders, Ray, Starjammers, Batman (R), and I'm pretty sure Phil Keffer won with a Marauders deck that didn't have the X-Babies....Marauders, H4H, Starajmmers, Hawkeye most likely.

HEY OP FAMILY!!!!

I'm BAAAACCCCKKKKK!  In the 1997 Hunstville Final, I beat Eric Counts who used Invisible Woman, Scarlet Witch, Nightcrawler, w/Spider Woman (R), but I'm not sure if he used Any-Heroes or Battlesite but his Homebase was the same as mine: Marvel Universe...I used Onslaught, Prof X, Holocaust, w/The Ray (R) and I did use Any-Heroes.

jitahadi

wow...  I just read this and the repetition in these decks is mind boggling.  Seems like almost 75% of the teams listed for the top 1998 teams had the Marauders and X-Babies and then most of the rest look to be Four Freedoms.   What a dark time for creativity in this games history.

Glad to see things open up a little bit for the 1999 regional winners, but still a lot of repetition.

Quote from: Oscorp on July 06, 2011, 12:22:45 PM
wow...  I just read this and the repetition in these decks is mind boggling.  Seems like almost 75% of the teams listed for the top 1998 teams had the Marauders and X-Babies and then most of the rest look to be Four Freedoms.   What a dark time for creativity in this games history.

Yeah, it was brutal. I got sick of seeing those characters in conjunction game after game. Even in casual meet ups it was all you saw.

-BBH

The balance across the 1999 regionals is pretty impressive.  6 battlesites to 5 any hero decks is solid, and with 4 different sites making an appearance.  The Texas regional deck is pretty questionable, I couldn't see that deck making it through the competition we had up here.

Sure beats the crap I saw in Yu-Gi-Oh!

Quote from: Oscorp on July 06, 2011, 12:22:45 PM
wow...  I just read this and the repetition in these decks is mind boggling.  Seems like almost 75% of the teams listed for the top 1998 teams had the Marauders and X-Babies and then most of the rest look to be Four Freedoms.   What a dark time for creativity in this games history.

Attack shifting was a stupid mechanic and completely centralized the format, but I wouldn't say it was a dark time for creativity. If anything, it was probably the most creative period in the game's history due to all the weird interactions going on. Since you couldn't plan your deck around the normal ebb and flow of attack, block, attack, block, etc, you had to come up with other ways to win. Perfecting the Four Freedoms archetype took a long time, and there was some intense debate over the best 56 cards to run. Marauders decks had to be increasingly dynamic in order to find ways to gain the upper hand on other Marauders decks. Some crazy designs arose as a direct result of the shift era, such as Matt Fell's bet seven lock deck, JohnL's pacifist deck, the Metallo/Captain Atom deck, and so on. The metagame also placed an increased emphasis on previously fringe cards, such as the KO event and Gather Info. Shifting was ultimately bad for the game, but look at how many innovative things became viable due to the odd situation that the format was facing.

Even then, I don't know if it's such a terrible thing for games to have similar decks at a competitive level. Minimizing variance means that the player with the most skill should win the majority of the time, all other things being equal. I still think there was a fair amount of differentiation between decks though, even in Marauders/X-Babies decks. Compare the two teams that faced in the finals of Nationals that year - a dual negate Any Hero deck against an extremely offensive Heroes for Hire lineup. They played very differently, despite their nearly identical characters. Then consider their individual strengths and weaknesses against a Mega Draw lineup such as a Marauders, Ray, Jammers frontline (a significant advantage for the mega negate deck), or against Four Freedoms (the negate deck would have a terrible time against this), and so on. Obviously the game is much better off now, but it's just something to think about.