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Hi there, folks. Dave “The Neuclidian” Williams (CoH ccg Lead Designer) here to break down the 2006 Hero Melee Madness tournament for ya’. Let me start right off and tell you that while Ms Liberty is my pick to win the tournament, my bracket will NOT have her as my top rated hero. The problem I see for Ms Liberty is that while I have her favored in each matchup I project for her, every fight except for her first one is with a top-flight hero who will keep it close. I love her fast attack and card advantage – those are both great in a battlepack – but I don’t want to risk my highest ranking on someone who could fall out so early. The Freedom Quarter is a total minefield with Pyrexiah, Mynx, Statesman and Ms Liberty, so I won’t put any of my top rankings there.

Instead, my top ranking will go to Lady Grey – the dark mistress is in the Justice Quarter – the weakest corner of the bracket and has only to get past a few tankers in Wasteland and Hero 1 to get into the final 4. I don’t see anyone in her corner of the bracket who can damage her fast enough to get past her regenerative powers. Hero 1 is a strong hero, but works best with teammates, so I think Stygian will advance and then take down the Dynamique/Flower Knight winner before going on to lose to Lady Grey in the Semis. In the end, The Lady is just too tough for this Quarter, I think.

In the Liberty Quarter, I see more tough matchups – almost as bad as Freedom. Positron has to be considered a favorite in this Quarter, since his toughest opponent will be whoever he faces in the 3rd round. His radiation should slow down Serpent Drummer and and the 2nd round for him should be a breeze. That takes us to the most intriguing matchup in the first round – Aesir and Sister Psyche. These 2 juggernauts of the Battlepacks should result in a monstrous battle that many people think could decide the whole tournament – whoever comes out of this match should become an instant top 3 favorite to win the whole thing. The problem, of course, is that only one of them can win, so don’t you dare put too high a ranking on either of them, or you could lose the contest in the very first round! I predict an Aesir/Sister Psyche versus Positron matchup in the quarterfinals with Positron as my pick to win in an upset and advance to the final 4.

This takes us to the Guardian Quarter. This is the best balanced Quarter of the bracket, I think, with 5 or 6 heroes all who have a good chance to advance to the final 4. Caldera versus Manticore as the first match of this Quarter is probably also the best matchup and the winner could go far. Conductress got a tough matchup against Night Strike who should be able to use his quickness to power past her, but I don’t think he can handle Caldera in the 2nd round. The 2nd round matchup at the top of this Quarter will be a blowout since each of the 4 possible matchups is a mismatch, but each hero has someone they can overwhelm – this is a bit of a tossup. Down a the bottom, I think Synapse will drain out Tricksie who needs a better matchup than this to advance, but he just doesn’t have the juice to get past Infernal’s brutality. Regulus should put up a fight as well, but I see Infernal advancing to an all tanker-final in this Quarter, then advancing to the final 4. Because he doesn’t have a really tough matchup until the final 4, I have Infernal as my #31 rank – It’s just good strategy to make sure your big ranks have a very low chance of getting knocked out early.

In the final 4, I think Ms Liberty has the speed to knock down Lady Grey, and Positron has the right combination of control and firepower to handle Infernal. In the finals, I see Ms Liberty’s card draw being enough to get past Positron’s “green pain” and taking the title. But that’s only if she can get out of the super nasty Freedom Quarter.

My top 4 ranks:

32 – Lady Grey
31 – Infernal
30 – Positron
29 – Ms Liberty