Deadpool Pre-Release Event in Altoona, Pennsylvania

Since none of the places near my home was going to do a pre-release event, I wanted to find out just what the set was going to look like before I play the regular people back home. So, I made the 88 mile trek to Altoona, PA to spend the day there and play in a special evening event. Usually, I will meet with them on a Sunday afternoon. I have never attended a pre-release event before, so I looked forward to getting an advance look at the pieces that were due to be sold the very next day.

The community of hobby players in the central and Blair county Pennsylvania are very nice to me welcoming me each time I play in one of their events. So, this time around, I chose to treat them to a little pizza party and brought them two small pies.

I received an email the week before and found it on the Wizkids Event System. I didn't know what to expect so I kept up the hope that I was going to be the one lucky player to find the hyped up Deadpool ultra chase that was already offered on the secondary market for well over two hundred or just under three hundred dollars. The Event System described it as a sealed event with the expectations of a two booster 300 point event. But when I got there, the judge in charge told the group that it was a battle royale event. Purchasing the boosters, I wanted to rip into them almost immediately believing that it was a little more heavy than the others. Could it have been the ultra chase that I wanted?

But the unexpected twist was that the boosters once opened were going to be draft style rotating them among the other two royale players in front of me. The heavy box produced a large purple monster named Shiklah. So, I claimed that for my own and waited to get the others. The remaining team comprised of a Foolkiller, a Deadpool common, Massacre and a Bedlam. My performance in this round was on the average to poor. I was only able to score a minimum amount of points to come in last place. The pieces were then put in the middle to be divided up in order of point winnings.

However, since we were all amazed at how the Shiklah performed so well and that there was two of them on the map, both the first place and second place people swiped those up. It left me to then choose the remaining pieces with Squirrel Girl and the LE named Horror. Who else can say they can get the LE and still come in last place?

The second game, I was feeling a little more confident, but again it was all dependent upon what everyone else brought to the table. I was able to first select an Ajax character which after a brief moment of study, I saw he had potential - and a great looking sculpt model. Then, I chose to pick up a U-Go-Girl, a Fantomex, and a few others. The way this game played out was that I used U-Go as a taxi to move Fantomex straight across the map. I was only able to use an attack once on the opponent in front of me who had stationed a stealth Wolverine. But my Fantomex and U-Go were a little soft defensively and were eliminated right away in the game. But that was when my Ajax was getting into his stride with a truly effective attack with choosing a hyper sonic speed attack. He was one of the last few remaining on the board as I made sure to refer to him only as his real name Francis. The best part in the game was when I was able to capture the Mercenary generic piece that scored my team 35 points, but also brought him onto my team to finish off some of the remaining characters. I won with 300 points exactly. So, I chose to pick up the Ajax-Francis character to be sure that I had it in case I wouldn't find any in the local games.