Why do you play Vs. System? Why did you click on this article? What is it about this game that keeps you coming back for more? My answers to those questions may be different than yours, but we surely share some of the same interests or we wouldn’t be here together. Here we go again.

The characters are the best part of Vs. System to me, and they keep getting better with each new expansion. I’ll frame my latest favorite within my recent experience at the Fort Lauderdale Sealed Pack PCQ, which used the shiny new Herald of Galactus set.

When I received my five booster packs with which to start the tournament, I discovered a wicked villain that was new to me. Comic book characters become actual physical structures in the human brain, and my personal synapses had never been exposed to this fascinating myth. Now that I have seen its marvelous madness, my memory will form a clump of neurons connected directly to Divinity. It will last a lifetime.

Divinity is rather obscure. Marvel Comics managed to merge some meaningful magnificence into this vampiric villain, and Billy Zonos dug deep to bring it to us in Vs. System form. I may never stop applauding.

A glob of black ooze that plops itself onto superheroes, sucks their essence for power, and then manipulates the possessed body like clay? Yes, please. Divinity was created by the Celestials to help out in the alternate reality that Franklin Richards, Creator of Counter-Earth made to reverse time and resurrect the Avengers and the Fantastic Four after Onslaught had destroyed them completely. When Dr. Doom was banished to Counter-Earth a few years later, he found himself in a position to rule the entire planet. He needed to form a team to guide his government and protect his realm. Doom chose well, and Marvel dipped into its vast reservoir of characters.

Doom’s Generals were Divinity, Dorma, Shakti, Technarx, and Lancer. Dorma was the most distinguished of the group, as she’d actually existed since before Marvel Comics was born. This princess from Atlantis has been forming memory bundles in human brains since 1939. She has been in a series of stories with Namor for nearly seventy years and is very deserving of her 7-drop status.

As hot as Dorma is, though, it was Divinity that jumped off his little piece of cardboard and grabbed me by the ears. I desperately wanted to play him in the PCQ. This was even before I knew how insanely cool his character was in the myths. Divinity and the Doom Generals once fought Thing, Rockhead, but when Thing tried to escape on the Airjet-Cycle, Divinity dripped himself onto the big guy and got to fly for a while. Orange and black were screaming through the air, and they landed together six years later in my Sealed Pack deck.

The best battle of Divinity’s mythological career had nothing to do with Doom. The goo-man was recruited by Mr. Sinister, along with his two fellow generals Shakti and Technarx. They were told to destroy X-Force completely.

In book one of X-Men: The End, those three little cards did some big damage to the Marvel universe. Mr. Sinister had been burned on a deal for the Phoenix Egg and he was mad. He sent his hired hands to squeeze the life out of as many mutants as they could. Shakti paralyzed Penance, Technarx transformed himself into a machine virus that actually took control of the nearly invincible Cable, and Divinity dealt death to one of my major mythic memories. He killed Boom Boom.

Tabitha Smith liked to change her superhero name quite often, but I will always remember her as Boom Boom. Whether you know her as Meltdown, or Boomer, or Tabby, she’s dead as a doornail thanks to Divinity. He poured himself onto her head and took complete control of her body. He played with her plasma-blast powers. He formed her helpless flesh into a giant face and mocked X-Force as they vied in vain to defeat him. Cable and his crew were beaten badly by the black ooze. Then, in a random dose of crazy continuity, Apocalypse rose from the ground and sent forth energy waves that sliced the Doom General in half. Neither Boom Boom nor Divinity have been seen in the comic books ever since.

Divinity lives on in Vs. System, and he is frighteningly good. The ability to KO both attackers and defenders is simply nasty. He needs to eat one of your Doom characters or a spare resource at the beginning of the build phase, but that is often a small price to pay for such a killer effect.

Seeing Divinity in my Sealed Pack pool forced me to force Doom. After including all the available affiliated characters and plot twists, I focused on finding fodder for feeding. There were a few small Kree characters that looked crunchy, and two Team-Ups to Doom them with. My late game was still suffering, so I hailed some Heralds of Galactus beaters to finish things off by turn 7. The previously mentioned Thing, Rockhead is just too strong to leave out, so he went in along with his Inhuman protector Alaris. This was my divine design for a PCQ full of Divinity:

Characters

Sintariis

Valeria Von Doom

Clumsy Foulup

Destroyer, Soulless Juggernaut

Dr. Minerva

Lieutenant Kona Lor

Doom-Bot Corps

Dr. Doom, Richards’s Rival

Wolverine, Skrunucklehead

Divinity

Morg, Corrupt Destroyer

Thing, Rockhead

Alaris

Frankie Raye ◊ Nova, Harbinger of Death

Shatterax

The Fallen One

Firelord, Harbinger of Havoc

Dr. Strange, Illuminati

Dorma

Mar-vell ◊ Captain Marvel

Plot Twists

Extended Family

Interstellar Offensive

It’s Slobberin’ Time!

Pressed Into Service

2 Relentless Onslaught

Starforce Strike

The Devil We Know

The Royal Guard

Equipment

Mind Gem

Round 1 introduced me to another fresh character, and she was real. Michelle Davis was a welcome addition to our local scene and it was a pleasure to thrash her mercilessly as she missed her drops on turns 3, 4, and 5. Divinity didn’t hit the board, but it did not matter much given Michelle’s horrible run of luck.

Dave Bauer has taught me a great deal about high-level TCG play, and the lesson on this day was as harsh as usual. He built up an unbeatable concealed force of Inhumans, and my Divinity was nowhere to be seen. In fact, I missed my 4-drop completely. I tend to be very good at that.

Next up was Luke Evitch. We had battled at least six times previously and he has only beaten me once, in the X-Men Sneak Preview. This time, I got wrecked. His Destroyer destroyed me on turn 7. When the dust had settled, I’d lost by 51 endurance. Ouch.

The fourth round saw Divinity face off against one of my local Hobby League players. Phillip Litt recently won a Scholarship tournament, but this match was mine. He hung in valiantly as Divinity disposed of his board. Then, Firelord, Harbinger of Havoc trounced him for 22 endurance loss in one swing and ended it on turn 6.

I moved up a level and sat down against the most professional player in Florida. A victory against Billy Postlethwait demands near perfect play, and I made a key mistake by forgetting to recruit my Mind Gem when it would have drawn me the pump I needed to take board advantage on turn 4. His Taskmaster took me down despite my swollen Mar-Vell, and I moved on at 2-2.

In round 6, I got some kicks and my Divinity got back into the mix. Ken Choi is a solid force on the South Florida circuit. He built the AGL deck with which Steven Altmark won his Extended Art Savage Beatdown. Ken’s Sealed Pack endurance gain deck could not keep up with my Vampiric General on this day, and I moved on.

I was 3-3 and still had an outside chance at Top 8. My opponent was the bedrock of our Hobby League community. His name is Christian Heskestad and he is a quality human being. I got to lay a quality beating on him at the PCQ, as my Divinity had plenty of food to fuel a constant slurping sound. Character after character hit the KO’d pile on both sides of the board. It was a glorious ending—too bad it had to come at the expense of such a great guy.

Four wins was not enough, and I finished ninth. With our group including such Pro Circuit luminaries as Ed Colleran, Jeremy Blair, Billy P., and David Bauer, I was not too disappointed. The day was a complete success due to the new character complex that was forming in my brain. An entire cluster of cells is now devoted to Divinity. I doubt they will ever die.

Rian Fike is also known as stubarnes, and he sees the Divinity in each of you. If you would like to share your synaptic structures with the rest of the Vs. System community, send your memories to rianfike@hattch.com.